Chuck vs The Debate
by Dillwg
Summary: A successful video game creator saves the day by defusing a bomb, and is pushed into running for President. On the eve of a debate, word comes of an assassin targeting Chuck, resulting in the Secret Service borrowing the services of the top CIA agent to protect the candidate. The story is intended to be non-partisan, focused on a relationship between Chuck and Sarah.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: After looking over the comments to the last story, I saw that the parts of that story that got the most positive reviews were the parts that focused on the relationship between Chuck and Sarah. I decided to try to write a relationship-centric story that did not include action. I quickly realized that action in storytelling was a crutch for me. Any time I needed to move the plot line forward, I would throw in a car chase/shootout/high altitude jump/etc. With that being said, this story is not fluff, it is an intersect free take on how our two favorite characters could have met and fallen for each other. There are several writers on this site who excel at writing fluff, and others who can blend some fluff with some angst. I would fail miserably at fluff. Don't expect this story to be turned into a Hallmark movie any time soon, although I aim to avoid angst.

The inspiration for this story came from an author's note from one of David Carner's many stories, where he mentioned owning a Bartowski/Grimes 2016 poster. I had originally envisioned a full Chuck/West Wing crossover, but it has been a long time since I've watched West Wing (even though I've got the box set), and for the life of me I could not figure out how to reconcile Roan Montgomery with White House Counsel Lionel Tribby. There is still a very small amount of crossover, but it's about 97% a Chuck story. The premise of the story is that Chuck, who had defused a bomb in an LA hotel and then got pushed into running for President, is the target of an assassin. A debate against Jed Bartlett is the setting where the CIA loans out an agent who had searched for said assassin to the Secret Service.

A couple of disclaimers-although I'm sure some will ignore these and complain anyway. I know that Chuck (both in canon and in this story) is too young to be eligible to run for the presidency. But Chuck as a reluctant leader was too tempting, and it creates the opportunity for an intersect-less Chuck to cross paths with Sarah Walker. Also, this story is not intended to politicize Chuck in one way or the other. I made it a debate for the Democratic primary mostly as a way to tweak Casey, although the story wound up focusing pretty tightly on Chuck and Sarah so Casey didn't get as much teasing as originally anticipated.

Without any further ado. I give you Chuck vs. the Debate.

Chapter 1 The Candidate

Morgan Grimes entered the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware, his eyes looking around at the preparations rapidly underway. So far in the campaign, Chuck had exceeded the expectations of everyone except for Morgan and Ellie who had known all along of his capacity for greatness. Nevertheless, the pressure was on for a good showing on the debate. With the Pennsylvania primary looming, it was a make or break week for the campaign.

As Chuck walked over putting a hand on Morgan's shoulder saying, "Hey little buddy, so are we ready for Monday night? Isn't this spot amazing? Do you realize that in half an hour you could be in Philadelphia, in an hour be in Baltimore, get to DC in an hour and a half, or get to New York in two hours? How amazing is that? And so much history. Don't even get me started on the history. Everywhere you look there is something vital to the history of our country."

"History, Charles Irving? History? What is amazing about this location is how close we are to getting real Philly cheesesteaks! I can almost hear the onions grilling, almost smell the provolone cheese melting over shaved ribeye. But we've got to wait until after we survive the next couple of days. Crab cakes down in Baltimore, or real New York pizza. Man, the possibilities are endless."

The two lifelong friends fell quiet as they watched the man approaching them.

"Gentlemen, I can't tell you what an honor it is to finally meet you," announced Joe Biden as he walked up the two men. The silver haired patrician of the Democratic Party was beaming his trademark smile as he walked up and began shaking both of their hands. Chuck realized the smile was intended to put people at ease around the former Vice President. But he also noticed the intelligence behind the gaze of Joe Biden, observing and noting every detail as he interacted with the Chuck and Morgan.

"Son, I got to tell you. What you did disarming that bomb at the hotel, that took guts. Saved a lot of lives a day. But I'm just as proud for what you did afterwards, standing up and speaking your mind when others try to capitalize on the event, pushing their own agendas. That took a whole lotta guts too." Biden said, continuing to smile broadly at Chuck. "Chuck… Can I call you Chuck?"

"Certainly sir," Chuck said he tried to not be overwhelmed at the experience. "All I did was to speak my mind, I really don't see that as being all that brave."

Biden slowly shook his silver mane, his smile never wavering as he looked on with appreciation of the young man before him. Pointing a finger at Chuck's chest, Biden continued, "That right there? That's why people like you, why they embrace you, why they believe in you. You have the courage of your own convictions, and yet you're not arrogant about it. Politics can be brutally difficult field, but it can also be incredibly rewarding as well. You get to meet a lot of amazing people, and more importantly you get the opportunity to do a world of good in a world that desperately needs good people."

"Now, I've known Jed Bartlett since he was a wet behind the ears economics professor at the University of New Hampshire. He is as wily as they come, but he's a good man and an honorable man. I'll give you a free tip. You need to respect him, he's about as smart as they get, but you don't need to fear him. No matter how it goes Friday night, embrace it, enjoy it, and then you'll be able to look back in the future with no regrets. But between us, I know you're gonna do great. Knock them dead."

With that the former Vice President clapped each man on the shoulder, broke out the trademark grin that was oddly reassuring and walked off towards a group of people already clamouring for his attention.

[Nineteen Months Earlier]

Chuck at been shopping at the Burbank Buy More when he overheard Eduardo having a crisis about Camilla's ballet recital and the missing video tape. With some help from friends in the store, Chuck of been able to re-create the recital, much to the relief of Eduardo, Camilla and her mother. Afterwards Camilla had beamed and asked Chuck if he would come to her next dance recital.

[Eighteen months earlier]

Chuck was walking alongside his new friends Eduardo and his daughter Camilla heading back from her successful recital. Although he had stood out in the crowd, partially for his height, but mostly as he was not a dance mom fixture, Chuck had really enjoyed the evening. However, as he, Eduardo and Camilla were walking on the sidewalk passing the Hotel Grand Ambassador just down the street from the recital hall, a police car with its lights on quickly came to a stop right by the hotel entrance. As the officers in the vehicle opened the doors to get out, Chuck overheard the radio advising the officers that there was a bomb in the hotel ballroom, connected to a Prism Express laptop computer. Quickly pushing Eduardo and Camilla back the way they came on the sidewalk, without thinking Chuck rushed inside to assist the police by disabling the laptop.

Inside the hotel, the police officers had been skeptical about the lanky young man, but they knew that an accident on the 405 meant that the bomb squad wasn't going to arrive before the timer on the bomb went off. Despite their best efforts, they knew that evacuating the whole hotel in time would be impossible. They decided to put their trust in Chuck, and he quickly proved their decision to be a wise one. Once the laptop was disabled, Chuck had momentarily freaked out when it dawned on him of the consequences if he had been wrong. He also knew that if he was wrong, it would have been one more death added to many others. However, as he had been right, there were no deaths.

When one of the officers had asked him for his phone number, Chuck had assumed that she needed his full contact information for her report. Unfortunately, Officer Kayla Hart took his response to mean that he wasn't interested in grabbing a drink with her and didn't pursue the opportunity. Chuck was oblivious to the missed opportunity.

Afterwards, the media had a field day with the story. The unassuming Stanford grad who had formed a video game company with his best friend, creating an unexpected but wildly successful hit first game, had saved the day. When Eduardo and his wife shared with the media that Chuck was coming back after watching their young daughter's ballet recital, the media been tempted to think that Chuck was too good to be true, especially given his reluctance to interview, but his personable nature quickly won over everyone.

Chuck's sister Ellie had been thrilled when she learned that Wired magazine was going to put the heroic young entrepreneur on its cover, but she then got frustrated with Chuck once the magazine came out featuring him with his un-kept hair, a pair of baggy blue jeans and faded red T-shirt. Her hopes that his newfound celebrity status might help him in the dating scene had been crushed by the magazine cover showing off his less than fashionable attire and desperate need for a haircut.

Although she had initially been furious with her brother for risking his life, based solely on her fear of losing him, Ellie had been proud of the man he had become when she read the flattering article. One of the first questions posed to him about the hotel bomb incident had been a soft question designed to flatter him and make him more comfortable opening up for the more substantive portion of the interview. The question asked was why he had decided to be hero, the guy who ran into a hotel full of people to disarm a sophisticated bomb. However, it was Chuck's honest and immediate answer that had set the tone for the rest of the interview. "I wasn't the only guy to run into that hotel to deal with the bomb. The ballroom was full of men and women from LAPD who had run in there before me. I had heard the radio call about the Prism Express and was confident that I could shut it down. Those officers, they went in only knowing there was a bomb on site. They were the brave ones."

Wired had also spoken with a number of the officers present at the scene for the story on Chuck. One had joking mentioned how Chuck had been calm, cool and collected during the whole process of convincing the scene commander that he could help and then with disabling the bomb. The officer laughed at how once the bomb was neutralized, then Chuck turned green and nearly puked.

All of the officers mentioned how, instead of hogging the spotlight after saving the day, Chuck had turned deferential, telling the officers "I don't know how you guys do this day in and day out." The officers weren't sure how to tell him that massive, computer controlled bombs were part of the day to day experience in the LAPD, even for members of the bomb squad. But Chuck wasn't having any part of that. Instead, he had gone through the room to shake the hand of every officer there and thank them for their service.

The officers didn't mention that after the fact, one of the police captains had approached Chuck, who had said "Oh, were you in the room too? I'm sorry, I didn't even see you there. Things were pretty crazy. Am I right?" Captain Milbarge mumbled something and walked quickly away while the officers nearby laughed at the inadvertent dig Chuck had rendered the the senior officer known more for his grandstanding than his police work, as the man had actually stayed well clear of the hotel until the all clear had been given.

The article had gone on to discuss not only the popular, high quality games that Carmichael Industries cranked out, but also the highly rated educational software that had become part of the curriculum at schools throughout the country. The educational software was very popular with the students, and beloved by teachers who raved about how it had not only gotten kids interested in subjects they had avoided before, but test scores had shot through the roof after the software started being used in the classrooms and computer labs. The article noted that it was impressive that the software had generated $1 million in sales for Carmichael Industries despite the fact that it was provided free of charge to schools both public and private, and that sales only came via the general public who were still able to buy the software at a ridiculously low price.

* * *

A/N 2 Familiar faces make their appearance in Ch. 2. I plan on posting at least one chapter per week, with ten chapters in total. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2 The Threat

A/N: I don't read other fanfic sections, so I have no idea if the other communities are as outstanding as the Chuck writers and readers. It was great to receive so much encouragement from some old friends, as well as new faces. Constructive criticism is welcome, and encouraged. To the guest reviewer who noted the "were" where it was supposed to be "weren't" regarding Chuck's discussion with the LAPD officers, you were completely correct. I had reviewed it on the computer and on paper, and I still missed it. I'm going to redouble my efforts in proofreading to see that it doesn't happen again.

In Ch. 2, some familiar faces enter the field of play. Sarah's character's background diverges from canon, but hopefully it all makes sense why in the end. As with Ch 1, this is mostly background on the characters. Any words in italics represent the internal thoughts of the character. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on the good or bad of the story. It will only help me to make it better.

Ch 2 The Threat

[Present Day]

Major John Casey, USMC detached duty to the NSA, strode into General Diane Beckman's office at NSA headquarters at precisely 0815 hours. He took one of the two chairs arranged in front of her desk, his back just as ramrod straight as it had been when he had walked into the room. He noted the two neatly arranged piles of folders on the polished, yet plain, oak desk. The only other items on the desktop being the two 42" UHD computer monitors.

There was none of the pretentious trappings of power that had been present on the desk of her counterpart, Langston Graham, Director of Central Intelligence at the CIA, when the Major had accompanied Gen. Beckman to Langley two weeks earlier to discuss a rogue agent's efforts to destroy a joint NSA-CIA project. Major Casey had fought to keep a sneer off of his face when he had seen the DCI's inner office. To Casey it represented an insecurity in the owner to have such an overt display of power. He clearly preferred General Beckman's office- neat, orderly, competent and confident.

"Major Casey," Beckman started, without any fanfare or wasted pleasantries. "The NSA will be solely responsible for physical security for the Intersect Project moving forward. Your recommendations will be passed along to the new liaison officer."

"We've got another situation that is developing that requires your skillsets," she continued with minimal preamble. "SigInt (signals intelligence) has recently picked up chatter that indicates that Javier Cruz has accepted a contract to carry out an assassination at the upcoming Democratic party debate."

Diane Beckmann was well aware of the Major's contempt for the hippy liberals, as he would put it, who would be attending and taking part in such an event. But she was also aware of his dedication to preserving the democracy especially from kinds of threats such as this one.

"Some of the analysts," General Beckman continued while pretending to not notice the sneer on the Major's face at the mention of analysts, "believe that there is a link between the threats to the Democratic party debate to the bomb attempt on General Stansfield from a couple of months back."

"At this time," Beckman continued, raising her voice to drown out the growling noises from her senior operator that had predictably come after she mentioned the Democratic Party, "we do not know for certain if the attack is aimed at one of the two candidates, or an attack on the debate itself. Regardless of your animosity to the Democrats, Major, we will not allow some foreign national to impact our electoral process." Between her stern tone, and the thought of a foreigner dictating to Americans who they could elect, Casey had gone quiet.

"We are anticipating additional intel to be developed within the next 90 minutes. As the threat matrix indicates an attack during the debate, we have to assume that one of the two candidates will be the primary target, with part of the objective to be public shock and chaos," the General noted as she flipped open a folder atop one of the piles on her desk. "The first candidate is Jedidiah Bartlett. Economic professor turned governor of New Hampshire. Generally popular in his home state, liberal political orientation," more grumbling came from Casey about damned hippies, "with no known threats during his term as governor. He is the mainstream candidate with a slight lead in delegates heading into the debate, with the Pennsylvania primary taking place after the debate. A primary win in Pennsylvania could lock up the nomination for Bartlett."

Beckman turned her attention to a folder on top of the second pile of documents on her desk.

"The second candidate is Charles Bartowski. Goes by 'Chuck'," Beckman noted with clear distain. "No prior political history. However, he was the one who thwarted the attempted bombing of General Stanfield back in February. Literally walked in off of the street to disarm a bomb wired up to a computer. The bomb was big enough to take out the entire hotel. After that, a couple of comments he made went viral and suddenly grassroot campaigns popped up around the country to get him to head the ticket."

"There are two indicators that would point to Mr. Bartowski as the likely target of Cruz. First is the Stanfield bombing attempt. Not only wasn't Stanfield killed, but a Serbian bomber is now serving a life sentence in a supermax prison because of the candidate's actions. Second, Bartowski is the son of Orion and CIA agent Frost."

"Oh, Christ."

"Neither Charles Bartowski nor his sister Eleanor appear to know about their parents' actual careers, and neither has had any contact with their parents who went off grid 15 years ago. Plenty of countries or groups would like to get their hands on Orion. Killing his son, especially publicly, could be a way to flush Orion out of hiding. Frost was one of us, the CIA's top agent with plenty of people who would be holding a vendetta against her. The issue is that only a handful of people know the true identities of either Frost or Orion. Did someone learn the identity of Frost or Orion and connect that to Charles Bartowski? At this point, we simply do not know."

General Beckman closed the folders in front of her and fixed John Casey with a stare as she continued.

"If Charles Bartowski is the intended target, we have to stop the threat. Not only would Congress rip the intelligence agencies to shreds if he were to be killed, whether or not it was our fault, but Orion and Frost would likely go on the warpath…literally. We would be picking up the pieces for years to come if that happens. Which it cannot."

"I want you to head up the corridor to Newark, Delaware. You will liaise with Ron Butterfield who is heading up the Secret Service detail for the debate. Get him up to speed on our signals intelligence. Keep an eye out for any threats to the event."

"Yes ma'am."

"Oh, and John?" Beckman said as she tilted her head up from the documents to give Casey another hard look.

"General?"

"No shooting anyone just because they are Democrats. The only person you are authorized to shoot on this assignment would be the assassin. Preferably before he gets a shot off at either candidate."

* * *

Sarah Walker stepped out of her Porsche into the wilting humidity of Washington DC. It was going to be another 90/90 day. 90 degrees, 90 percent humidity. She didn't know how the desk jockeys at Langley handled it. But she wasn't headed to work at Langley. Today would mark her first day of her temporary assignment to the Secret Service- a break from her regular routine of jet setting from mission to mission in one location after another. Her boss Langston Graham, current Director of the CIA, felt that a short term change was needed after the Ryker mission debacle in Hungary.

Graham told her that a burn notice had been issued for Ryker, and Sarah desperately wanted to be the one to carry out that assignment. She had had a more pressing problem at the time that she hadn't trusted her mentor Graham to know about. Sarah had managed to slip into the country, undetected, with the baby that Ryker had sought to kidnap and possibly kill, and made contact with her mom, Emma.

Sarah had known that reconnecting with her mom would be difficult, and would open up a lot of memories she had worked hard at suppressing. Seeing her mom had been harder than she had expected. Sarah had been stunned at the longing to give up her career and fix the bridge that she had thought she had burned so many years before. But as much as Sarah was tempted to stay, she knew that for the sake of the little girl, Sarah had to make yet another sacrifice in a career full of them.

Both Sarah and her mother were familiar with making sacrifices. Emma had been a single mom, raising a young daughter after a college Spring Break dalliance had resulted in an unexpected pregnancy, as well as the discovery that "Jack Burton" didn't actually exist. Emma's attraction to "Jack" had been overwhelming, and he had proven to be a smooth operator. However, when she attempted to track him down to share the news of her pregnancy several weeks later, there was no trace of any "Jack Burton". Sarah had grown up without a father, without any real male influence or relationship with any father figure.

Once Sarah had joined the CIA, she had used the Company databases to search "Jack Burton". Was it misallocation of government resources? Yes. Was Sarah worried? Not in the least. Was she successful? Also not in the least. Jack Burton was a ghost. It was an alias that cropped up from time to time, but no trace to the real man using the name. After the search, Sarah regretted her childhood accusations that her mom had kept her father from her. All the years later, the hurtful (and now provably false) accusations had created a strain between mother and daughter which Sarah now hoped to someday fix.

Her mom had taken in baby Molly, fortunately with relatively few questions. It was clear to Sarah that her mom also wanted to bridge the gap that had formed between them. Unfortunately, the timing of this discovery could not have been worse, as Sarah needed to keep her distance from Molly in order to prevent anyone at the CIA from learning that the toddler was still alive and where she was. Keeping her distance from Molly regrettably went hand in hand with keeping her distance from Emma.

Graham had delivered the news of her short term transfer to the Treasury Department with a trademark backhanded compliment. First there was the dig at her need for some time away from the field, while also noting that her skills as an elite assassin would be useful to the Secret Service in order to outthink another assassin. But his compliment at her unparalleled skills as a killer was also a subtle jab and reminder-she didn't fit in to regular society. She was his Enforcer and he expected her to get her head back in that game. The problem was that her last mission had been a mess, both in literal terms as well as in terms of political fallout.

Sarah gathered up her temporary ID to get into the headquarters for the Secret Service in the Treasury Department building on Pennsylvania Avenue just down the street from the Capitol. As she was operating stateside, she would once again be known as Sarah Walker. It would probably be the longest time she would operate under the same name since before her teenage recruitment into the CIA.

Making her way through the maze of hallways, she got to the conference room just before a meeting which was scheduled to begin. She had just placed her folder on the conference table when her new temporary boss, Ron Butterfield, made his entrance. He was no nonsense, but not hostile or arrogant. "Good, you are here. Everyone, this is Agent Sarah Walker of the CIA. She'll be joining our team for a little while. I had to call in quite a few favors to pry her away from the Agency."

It was thanks to Sarah's years of training that she didn't react to that news. So, was her new boss just blowing smoke? Was he trying to make it seem like he was in control when Director Graham had dumped her on the Secret Service after the Ryker debacle? Or did Graham just conveniently forget to tell her that her new assignment had been at the request of Special Agent Butterfield?

"Folks, we have a new, credible threat against the upcoming debate in the Democratic primary. We are working with other agencies to flesh out the threat, but indications are that Javier Cruz is targeting the debate. Cruz is a killer from higher, one of the best in the business. The problem is that we don't know for certain which candidate he is after, or if he's going after the debate in general."

"Agent Walker, I've been told that you've tracked Cruz in the past. What can you tell us about his profile?"

Sarah watched as all the eyes in the room focused on her. The men and women in the room were all veteran agents who dedicated their lives to keeping their charges safe.

"Unfortunately," Sarah began, speaking in cool measured tones, "Cruz is one of the top two or three assassins in the world. And one of the biggest reasons why he's among the best is that he's completely unpredictable. Sometimes he uses a bomb in the home or office, sometimes it's a car bomb, sometimes it's poison. We tried to grab him in Cartagena when he disguised himself as a member of a mariachi band. He had fast acting poison darts that he shot from a device built into his guitar. He's shot people up close with a pistol, and at a distance with a long gun. About the only weapon we haven't heard of him using is a crossbow."

"If the intel turns out to be credible," Butterfield responded, "and we are dealing with Cruz, we're going to look to you, Agent Walker, to run point on the mission. If it isn't Cruz, your skills and experience will still make you an invaluable and welcome addition to our team, for as long as we can keep you from the CIA."

"We're going to head up to Delaware to do advance recon for the debate site. I've got a meeting set in the morning with NSA Agent John Casey," Agent Butterfield continued. "He's going to update me on the NSA's latest intel on the threat chatter."

"Agent Walker, you, me, Gomez and Pugh will prepare a report on why Mr. Bartowski might be the target. Krinsky, Sakay, Lancaster you're going to do a threat assessment on Bartlett."

Sarah grabbed the packet on Charles Bartowski, flicking the folder open to see a photo of a young man with an easy smile and warm eyes. She knew perfectly well that looks could be deceiving-how many of her targets had assumed that she was some simpering blonde who couldn't harm a fly, only to discover that the beautiful wrapping covered up a lethal capacity? Bartowski's bio concluded that he was a nice guy. So why would a top international assassin target him? Then again, how many nice guys were involved in presidential politics?

Reading on, she noted that Bartowski was a wildly successful videogame creator/programmer who had stumbled into fame by saving hundreds of lives (including several prominent members of the military) by putting his computer skills to use in defusing a bomb. Press reports indicated that he was both liked and respected by his peers in the gaming industry. He has an older sister whom he frequently mentions in interviews, and appears genuinely close to. Both parents went missing when he was very young. Neither parent appeared to be affluent or politically connected in any way. In fact, there was surprisingly little data on either his father or mother.

Bartowski had been engaged to his college sweetheart, but he called off the wedding after his fiancé's boss was discovered dead while naked in her bed when the two were on a "business" trip to Paris. _Looks like he would like that city about as much as I do_ , Sarah thought as her Red Test leapt to mind, despite how hard she tried to repress the memory. Bartowski never publicly revealed any details on the split, but there was an interview with his business partner/childhood best friend Morgan Grimes, who ripped into "a heartless ghoul who betrayed the greatest guy in the world." Any subsequent interviews only resulted in "no comment" from Grimes. Bartowski simply never answered any questions on the subject.

Looking at the photo, Sarah was surprised to realize that her protectee ( _there was one idea that would take some getting used to- the objective being saving a life rather than taking it_ ) was around her age. Her first thought at looking at the photo was "warmth". Warm eyes, honey brown in color with with flecks of green scattered throughout. A warm, open smile. Unlike the career politicians that Sarah had crossed paths with in her career, Chuck didn't have the smooth, polished, practiced smile that appeared to be photogenic. Instead, the protectee was shown with a big grin that looked like he was sharing a joke with everyone rather than the bland politician smile.

And then there were those glorious curls. She'd never seen curls that angled off in every possible direction-and this from a woman who had suffered more than her share of bad home perms as a teenager. Like his smile, Bartowski's hair wasn't remotely sophisticated or polished. But, like his smile, it came across as unmistakably genuine, real, rather than crafted to project a desired image. Simply put, the man was the real thing. Unabashedly nerdy, unmistakably intelligent, brave yet humble. She did not find it remotely surprising that he had found so many followers so quickly in grassroots campaigns.

She read up everything that she could get her hands on. _For background research, strictly research_. She learned of him making a fortune on videogames. His educational software that was revolutionizing the way children were being taught fundamentals from math to grammar to geography.

She learned that his first video game had premiered at ComicCon in her hometown of San Diego. Despite growing up there, Sarah hadn't ever attended the convention and wasn't clear on what went on there. Within an hour of him setting up his booth, the lines to play the demo had grown so long that the convention organizers had to arrange for a new location for the Carmichael Industries display just to handle crowd control. Overnight, Chuck Bartowski had gone from unknown to multimillionaire. However, when he was interviewed about the breakout success at ComicCon, he just kept talking about how amazing it was to be in the same building as so many of his childhood idols. He had completely geeked out in a thoroughly adorable ( _adorable?_ ) way, completely focused on others instead of himself.

While still fresh in her mind, Sarah shot a text off to a guy she had used in tech support at the CIA Science & Technology Directorate. She was sure he would know about ComicCon, maybe even Carmichael Industries if she was lucky. He would be able to give her some background intel not found in these government reports. While waiting on his response, she returned to the briefing materials.

Sarah turned to the protectee's educational profile. Before reviewing the academic transcripts, Sarah's stomach plummeted when she saw a photograph of Bartowski with his fraternity brothers. He had his arm wrapped around none other than Bryce Larkin, and both young men had huge matching grins on their faces. _That could complicate matters_. She was fascinated with the image of her former partner as a younger man. The Andersons were over. The lines had definitely been blurred when they were operating as a cover couple- but there hadn't been any real relationship outside of work. She had always preferred to work alone, even though Bryce had hinted that he was open to taking on more missions together. But then he had said that he was going on a quick solo mission, Operation Sandwall, and shortly thereafter he had completely dropped off of the grid.

Chuck's academic transcripts were beyond impressive. They were almost intimidating. Graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Computer Engineering. She was surprised to see that he had taken a course with Professor George Flemming, who Sarah knew to be a CIA recruiter. She noted that Chuck had stellar scores in the class. Looking into the classified CIA packet on the protectee, Sarah saw that Flemming had reported Chuck to be unfit for recruitment to the Agency. He was reported to be too open, too trusting and too incapable of accepting that wrong actions could be right in certain circumstances. _He'll probably hate me. That was the key to my recruitment by Langston Graham himself_.

Feeling slightly dejected, Sarah next moved on to read about the protectee's family. His parents were merely listed as Stephen and Mary Bartowski, current location: unknown. There were no details such as date of birth, social security numbers, or any sign that they were still living. The lack of information was surprising, unprecedented even. Suspecting that something was off, she shot off another text to her tech support guy to do a little digging on the absent parents.

The details on when the parents vanished were sketchy at best. However, from what Sarah could piece together, it appeared that both parents were gone by the time that Eleanor was 15 and Chuck was 12. It was a little surprising that the siblings had not gone into a group home for foster care. The first official notice of the parents being absent was a school report on Chuck Bartowski's file noting that his sister Eleanor had been appointed his legal guardian on the day she turned 18. Sarah suspected that the high school guidance counsel may have played a role, considering the glowing reviews for the then children, replete with references to a stable, loving home.

The next information was on his only sibling. Eleanor Faye Bartowski nee Woodcomb. The article in Wired had noted the fact that she had raised her brother since she was just fifteen. As if it weren't enough of an accomplishment to single-handedly raise a brother who did so well academically that he got a full ride scholarship to Stanford, she had also managed to graduate with honors from UCLA and then UCLA Medical School. She currently worked as a board certified neurosurgeon, alternating between patient care and research. The bio packet noted that she had married Devon Woodcomb, a board certified cardiothoracic surgeon who had attended medical school with her.

As Sarah started to read the brief biography on Devon Woodcomb, text messages from her tech support started coming in fast and furiously. Apparently ComicCon was a much bigger deal to the nerds in S&T than to field agents. From the sheer number of text messages, it appeared that she had made her guy's week by asking for information on the convention. Message after message poured in about what ComicCon entailed, its history, the various panels for tv shows and movies, as well as comic books and videogames. She even got an entire message dedicated to describing some of the cosplay costumes that fans would wear to the event. She texted a follow up request for an outline of some of the more popular comic book histories, as she hadn't paid any attention to comics during her own childhood.

More messages came through with information about Carmichael Industries. Not surprisingly tech support guys were big fans of video games. The respect that he had for "Chuck" was evident in the messages describing the educational software innovations, and the development of an entire educational software division for the company that focused on optimizing the learning experience while ensuring the latest academic techniques were being integrated. The entire philosophy appeared to be aimed at helping teachers make learning both more fun and more rewarding for their students.

While reading up on the philanthropic activities of her protectee, Sarah had to wonder whether such a thoroughly good person could truly exist. Just as Sarah was pondering the difference between her career path and Chuck's, she realized that the text messages had abruptly stopped. Her suspicion increased when she got one final, cryptic message: "No further information known on Stephen or Mary Bartowski. Going to meet with my supervisor at the Inspector General's office, no further communication possible." It appeared as though she had just burned a trusted contact, and she had little reason as to why. Sarah was convinced that there was something suspicious about Bartowski's parents, but evidently the CIA had no interest in allowing anyone to know what that was-not even the woman tasked with the job of keeping him alive.

Sarah next looked up information the ex-fiancée. _Just for the sake of being thorough_. Jill Roberts. _Aka Skank. Oops, that's not in the official file. Although it should be_. From the photographs in the file, Chuck had clearly been crazy about her even though the photographs appeared to show that she wasn't as besotted as he was. _I guess that she's ok looking, for a brunette_. The file materials largely consisted of articles about Chuck and/or Carmichael Industries that made reference to her. She had graduated from Stanford at the same time as Bartowski, with an honors in biomedical engineering. _Looks like Chuck is into strong, intelligent, independent women_.

Roberts had landed a job straight out of college with a major pharmaceutical giant in their research division. She had been working under- _under is one way of putting it_ -Dr. Guy LaFleur on infectious disease research. Two years after graduation there was a newspaper announcement of the engagement of Dr. Jill Roberts to Chuck Bartowski. Six months afterwards, hotel security found her trapped under the naked body of LaFleur, who was determined to have died of a heart attack while having intercourse. She and her boss had been in Paris at a conference, evidently mixing business with pleasure. The news report on LaFleur's death had merely noted that Roberts had been engaged to another man at the time of LaFleur's passing.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3 The Cover

A/N I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed and/or sent PMs. All the notes are appreciated. There have been a couple pointing out spelling errors, which are just as welcome. I want to put out a story that people enjoy reading, and typos definitely take away from the enjoyment. I am working hard to try to catch all the mistakes before posting each chapter, but there have been a few that leaked through.

I had thought when I posted Ch 1 that I was further along than I turned out to be. Ch 4 had to be split in two, and then I realized that the second half was more general notes than fully developed scenes. By the time I finished filling out the scenes, the second part had gotten so long that I had to split it into a third chapter. I still need to proof these modifications, as well as polish the chapters after that. I've got this up to the Epilogue, and I know what I want there—it just has to be written. I had hoped to start the second arc of this story while fine tuning the chapters as they get posted, but as noted above there has been more massive modification than fine tuning so far. When we get to the epilogue, I'll gauge the interest in continuing the story.

Now for Ch 3, where the backstory ends and our favorite couple (finally!) meet. I hope you enjoy.

Sarah Walker entered the Bob Carpenter Center, looking around the debate venue with mixed emotions. She was relieved that it was a relatively small arena, only capable of holding five thousand people, compared with the nightmare of securing a large stadium in comparison. However, it was still capable of holding five thousand people in its seating capacity, and there were countless nooks and crannies where an assassin could hide.

Ron Butterfield had gone over to talk to a tall, imposing man who stood on the corner of the stage, his posture screaming military. As Butterfield hadn't asked her (or anyone else) to accompany him, Sarah assumed this was the NSA contact. Before exploring any further into the arena, Sarah heard a gruff, "Ron, good to be working with you again."

"You as well, Casey. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to acknowledge knowing you. You No Such Agency types tend to enjoy your anonymity."

Hearing a grunt in response, Sarah returned her attention to the site, working through her assessment of threats ranging from guns to bombs. Unlike her Secret Service counterparts who tried to think "how best to protect the asset" based on historical data, Sarah analyzed where she would choose to be if she were assigned to take out a target. She then changed her approach to where would be the best spots to hide a bomb.

As she was mulling through the risks presented by the venue, she noticed a beautiful brunette approaching her with a very determined look on her face. As the woman strode purposefully towards Sarah, she noted that the woman was nearly as tall as Sarah and had eyes that looked just like Chuck's- _why am I thinking of the protectee as Chuck_?

"Would you care to tell me just what in the hell is going on around here? Just why does the Secret Service feel the need for a detail to protect my little brother?"

Yep. Eleanor Bartowski. And from the looks of things, she was madder than a baptized cat© (copyright used with express written permission only).

"Miss Bartowski," Sarah began.

"It's Woodcomb. And it's Dr Woodcomb," Ellie responded, her voice glacier like in its coldness.

Sarah quickly glanced at the woman's left hand, noticing a sizable diamond ring. She was surprised that she hadn't noticed that less than subtle detail, but chalked it up to being distracted by thoughts of Chuck's eyes. _Wait, what?!_

"The bearded gnome got tied up with some meeting with the debate moderator and told me that I needed to sit in on a Secret Service meeting about security." The tall brunette rolled her eyes. "And it would seem that he failed to mention this detail to you people."

"I'm sorry. Who failed to mention this?"

"Grimes! That little bearded gnome. For the life of me I'll never understand why Chuck chose him for his campaign manager. Although if I'm going to be honest, Morgan has done a surprisingly good job on the campaign. "

"Ah, Dr. Woodcomb," Ron Butterfield said as he approached the two women. "If you will accompany Agent Walker and myself, we can sit down and discuss the debate and security precautions we will be using. "

As they were seated in a private room behind the stage, Ellie warily looked at Sarah, Ron and John Casey. "So what you are telling me is that there's reason to believe that one of the deadliest people in the world wants my brother dead?"

"Yes, ma'am," Agent Butterfield stated. "We haven't gotten definitive proof that this man is after your brother, but we believe that he is the intended target."

"Why did he have to run into that damned hotel to stop that bomb? I'm sorry," Ellie quickly said. "I don't mean that. Chuck wouldn't be able to live with himself if he'd been able to help, but ran away. The noble idiot." Sarah realized that she too was proud of Chuck for doing such a brave and selfless act without any training or support. Then she wondered why she would be proud of a stranger's deeds. More so, she wondered why she continued to think of the protectee as Chuck?

"Doctor, it may turn out that Mr. Bartowski is not the target of Cruz, or even that Cruz is not actually planning on an attack at the debate. However, we've gotten certain information that we are taking seriously. We are going to do everything possible in order to make sure that Mr. Bartowski, Governor Bartlett and everyone else at the debate is kept safe."

"Thank you all for that," Ellie responded, sagging back into her chair. "I don't mean to be difficult or sound ungrateful for all that you are doing. I should be thanking the three of you for protecting my brother."

Sarah was surprised at the sudden turnabout in personality. The anger and bluster gone, replaced by fatigue, sincerity and what appeared to be regret at the sudden fame accompanying Eleanor's brother. Her concern for her brother's safety was clearly paramount to Dr. Woodcomb. Sarah was briefly jealous over the tight family bond that was readily apparent between the doctor and Chuck.

Agent Butterfield responded, "Doctor, what I would propose is that we reconvene at 7pm tonight in order to discuss this with Mr. Bartowski. We want to impose as little as possible on his schedule and preparations, however we will need to take certain steps in order to ensure that he has the best protection possible. We would like to meet at the house the campaign has leased in New Castle. It is easily secured and offers greater privacy for this sensitive discussion. We also believe that Mr. Bartowski might be more comfortable and receptive in such an environment."

"Thank you Agent Butterfield, Agent Walker, Major Casey. Again, I apologize for being so short with you earlier. I know that none of this is your fault. I will see you at 7pm at Chuck's house."

"Agent Walker, this is Major John Casey, NSA. I have permission from his superior at the NSA, General Beckman, to read you in on the latest intelligence obtained by the NSA regarding Cruz and an attempt at the debate. Unfortunately, it is not encouraging. Mr. Bartowski was named specifically in a captured cell phone call from within the United States, and the NSA analysts positively identified the voiceprint as belonging to Cruz. We are confident that Cruz will attempt to kill Chuck Bartowski, and that the attempt will take place at the upcoming debate."

"I know some of the background of the two of you. Not complete by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do not need to know, and honestly probably will sleep better not knowing the full extent of your…accomplishments. General Beckman and Director Graham indicated how skilled each of you are at neutralizing threats to the US. What I would like is to convene the Secret Service team for a meeting in half an hour. I would then like the two of you to each address how you would approach the debate if you were in Cruz's shoes. That way my people can prioritize the areas of greatest risk in the limited time that we have before the debate."

"Agent Walker. Your reputation as an enforcer precedes you."

"As does your reputation, Major Casey."

"Is there going to be a problem here?" Ron Butterfield asked, noting the tension between the two agents.

"No, Ron. We're good."

"Yes, we're good. The same might not be said if the CIA hadn't sent me, but had the DEA send Carina Miller."

Growls erupted from Casey as he clenched his fists at his side. Butterfield merely raised an eyebrow while Sarah simply smirked.

"What is that? Spy humor? And quit smirking. I hate smirkers."

Sarah didn't flinch or back down. "I see we have something in common."

Casey's growls instantly shifted into a grunt. The CIA skirt had a backbone. Maybe she would be tolerable to work with after all. And Casey was secretly happy that Carina was not involved in this mission. He did not approve of hitting a lady, but Miller was no lady. Then again, he didn't need that photo resurfacing. And one of his thumbs was still sore in the spot where he broke the bone to get out of those damned fuzzy handcuffs.

As both John Casey and Sarah stood to leave the meeting, Agent Butterfield spoke up, "Agent Walker, an additional moment of your time, if I may?"

Sarah turned and resumed her seat, curious as what the Secret Service supervisor wanted to speak with her privately about. Butterfield stood, removed his jacket, walked over to a refrigerator and removed two water bottles before retaking his seat and passing one of the bottles to Sarah.

"May I call you Sarah?" Ron Butterfield started.

"Certainly, sir," Sarah responded in a guarded fashion, somewhat leery about the familiarity.

"Please, call me Ron. For these one on one meetings, I prefer to operate a little less formally. We need the formality, the chain of command if you will, in group meetings. However, as I said, Langston Graham gave me some insight on your background. He and I went to the Academy together, before he ventured off into intelligence and I went into protective services."

"Simply put, Sarah, Langston said you are his best. That if there is anyone who can outthink Cruz it will be you. As you are aware, Langston can be…how could I put this tactfully, he can be stingy with his compliments. By calling you his best, he's telling me that you and I are more peers than superior and subordinate. "

"Let me put any concerns that you might have about this assignment being some type of demotion to rest. I approached Langston, envisioning a scenario not unlike what we are currently facing, where we in the Secret Service are going up against a professional assassin, rather than a crackpot with a gun. Langston indicated that you had been going from mission to mission, and not too long ago had a scenario where a team you were part of was compromised by a mole. He thought this change of pace for a month or two could help you keep you edge professionally."

"Given your background in deep cover assignments, and Mr. Bartowski's status, we have an option- only if you are agreeable- to insert you into Mr. Bartowski's inner circle and daily life as a cover girlfriend. Always by his side, yet always in the background. It would be a perfect cover."

"While I am the Agent In Charge for this assignment, and will ultimately use the personnel at my disposal in the way that best carries out the protective detail required, I realized that this particular situation presented a solution that could only work with someone with your skillset of operating undercover. Let me make this clear, if we do decide to go with this unique protective detail, you and I would sit down with Mr. Bartowski to make it clear that my personnel are there to keep him alive. That being said, from what I've read and personally observed, it would not be a problem with Mr. Bartowski. He is the regular guy turned reluctant hero, who appears to have been swept up into a political movement."

"Please understand that this is not a solution that I would order you to take. The Secret Service doesn't utilize seduction missions or honey traps. If you say no, we use the standard approach- no recriminations whatsoever. Director Graham will never hear about this conversation from me, regardless of what decision you make." Sarah could see how earnest Butterfield was. No tells whatsoever that he was trying to trick or trap her. It would be refreshing to work with him. 

"The information from the NSA does not indicate how Cruz intends to make his attempt on Mr. Bartowski. It may not come at the event itself, possibly en route, earlier than the debate or at some point afterwards. We simply do not know. We could insert you undercover as his girlfriend in order to have an added layer of protection in close proximity to Mr. Bartowski that Cruz likely wouldn't anticipate. But if you choose not to go under cover, we will use a standard protection detail relying on whatever insight that you and Major Casey can provide. Regardless of your decision, I am grateful for your help on this detail."


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4 The First (Cover) Date, Part I

A/N: First of all, a small disclaimer. The title to this chapter was created when this chapter covered what are now chapters 4, 5 and 6. Our favorite couple (finally) meet up. Any words in italics are the thoughts of the characters-hopefully it is clear who is thinking what. I'm trying to keep to the chapter a week posting schedule, but chapters 5 and 6 underwent a ton of rewriting so now I need to make sure there aren't any continuity mistakes. Also, despite multiple readings, somehow a spelling error or two slip through. As always, pointing out any mistakes will help me to be a better (or at least more careful) writer. Thank you for reading, and thank you for the reviews and PMs. My plan is to write a follow on story after this one wraps up, and I'm planning on using several of the ideas mentioned in reviews.

I hope you enjoy.

* * *

Sarah hitched a ride with Agent Butterfield over to the Team Bartowski campaign headquarters located in Old Town, New Castle, Delaware, about a fifteen minute drive from the debate site, and within twenty minutes of Philadelphia. Sarah made a mental note to handle the driving herself the next time. She suspected, or at least hoped, that the Secret Service issue SUV could go significantly faster than the Agent In Charge was driving. As they neared the house, Ron Butterfield gave her a quick overview.

"I have taken responsibility for securing the headquarters from any potential attack. The campaign inadvertently helped a great deal in that regard. The headquarters is in a rented house on a quiet residential street. The roads are old, so they are narrow and winding, making it harder for someone to sneak up on the property. The house also has decent sized front, rear and side yards, making approach from any angle difficult. It's in a historic district, so most of the people living in the neighborhood have been there for decades. Any new face is quickly noted. Plus, it is fairly close to former Vice President Biden's private residence, so local, county and state law enforcement are all familiar with interacting with the Service."

As they pulled to a stop out front of the house, Sarah noted that the house itself seemed to match the biography of Charles Bartowski himself. Not flashy, but with a lot of substance. As she and Ron Butterfield exited their SUV, Sarah noted several "unmarked" Secret Service vehicles scattered up and down the street in proximity to the property. If she could spot the vehicles, as well as some of the security detail, that easily, she was sure Javier Cruz would be able to spot them as well. That, however, was likely part of Ron Butterfield's objective.

As they approached the front door, Sarah commented to Agent Butterfield, "I've looked over the Bartowski file in detail. There isn't anything that jumps out as a red flag issue. No shady business deals, no affairs or secret children, no sign of any offshore accounts or hidden assets. There's just nothing there to indicate a reason for someone to hire an elite assassin like Cruz to take him out. Bartowski is so clean, he makes choir boys look corrupt."

"I wouldn't say that last bit around John Casey, he might take offense having been one himself," Butterfield replied with a rare, and short lived wry grin.

"No!" Sarah said as she paused mid-stride to flash a smile in return. "That is hard to picture."

They both schooled their expressions into proper agent faces as Ron Butterfield knocked on the door to the temporary campaign headquarters. The door was quickly opened by Ellie Bartow- _by Ellie Woodcomb_ , Sarah mentally corrected herself. _Doctor Ellie Woodcomb, to be precise_. Sarah was surprised to see the doctor look chagrined as she glanced Sarah's way before stepping back to all the two to come in. All of the bluster and fury that had been present in the Carpenter Center was gone from Bartowski's sister.

"Ah," Ellie quietly began, "Agent Walker. I am glad you are here. I would like to apologize for my behavior earlier today. It was inexcusable on my part. Between the stress of the upcoming debate, and discovery that there is someone out there trying to kill my baby brother, I just lost it. I'm sorry that I happened to lose it on you."

Sarah had lots and lots of training on spotting prevarication and deception. None of that training came in handy as it was clear that her protectee's sister was genuinely contrite for the slight that had taken place earlier that day. Sarah hadn't been too concerned at being on the receiving end of the wrath of the formidable sister, but for some reason she was secretly thrilled that Eleanor Woodcomb was no longer angry at her. Before she could dwell on that surprising reaction, as well as wonder at what had changed between the Bob Carpenter Center and the candidate's headquarters to make Chuck's sister not hate Sarah, Ron Butterfield was ushering Sarah inside the house so that they could discuss his idea to insert Sarah into the campaign undercover as the new girlfriend of Charles "Chuck" Bartowski.

As they took their seats in the living room to await the arrival of Chuck, Ellie apologized for the mess, as though it were actually her house and not a temporary campaign headquarters on the opposite side of the country from her own home. For a moment, Sarah allowed herself to wonder at what Ellie's home actually looked like. The files had indicated that she and her brother had lived in Burbank, but to Sarah it was just a dot on the map. Sarah's daydreaming was short lived, as Ron Butterfield took advantage of the delay in Chuck's arrival to get the sister's input on the proposed cover for Sarah.

"Dr. Woodcomb," Butterfield started in his serious, yet calming tone, "unfortunately we have developed some new information that shows that your brother is the intended target of the assassin. Given the sources of information and methods used to obtain it, I cannot reveal how we know, but I have checked the sources and am confident in the accuracy of the new information.

"That being said, we would like to recommend a plan that Agent Walker and I have come up with which would give your brother constant, yet discreet protection. While we have already increased the number of Secret Service agents handling physical security both here and at the debate site, our proposal is for Agent Walker to go undercover as Mr. Bartowski's girlfriend. Our information indicates that only you, your husband and Mr. Grimes have much knowledge about Mr. Bartowski's social history. We feel that if the three of you act as though Agent Walker was a past girlfriend with whom he has recently reconnected, the other people working in the campaign will accept it as fact. This would allow Agent Walker to constantly be by your brother's side."

Ellie sat back, stunned at the confirmation that there was, in fact, someone out there actively trying to kill her baby brother. As she slowly came to grips with that concept, the rest of Agent Butterfield's comments filtered through her consciousness. "I think there would be a very big problem with Agent Walker posing as my brother's girlfriend."

 _What, does she not think I'm good enough for him? Ok, if she knew my actual job, or worse-why they requested me for this assignment in the first place, she'd know I wasn't good enough for him. But she doesn't know so what gives?_

Something in Sarah's expression must have given away her thought ( _damn, need to work on my poker face around Bartow…Woodcomb, Dr. Woodcomb. She made that clear enough back at the Center_ ). "Agent Walker, I mean no disrespect. What I was trying to say, poorly I admit, was that the problem would be with my brother." _Why wouldn't he want people to think I'm his girlfriend? Aside from the whole CIA assassin thing, and joining the CIA straight out of high school? Wait, he probably goes for brunettes. Yeah, the picture of that little tramp Jill showed she was a brunette. Maybe I could dye my hair. I wonder if he'd like me with black hair? I could do it straight and black, like that mission where I infiltrated the Russian arms dealer. I wonder if I can get them to ship me that catsuit?_. "Agent Walker is, wow, she's a beautiful woman. It almost surprising that she's a federal agent. Oh, that sounds patronizing to both of you doesn't it. Ugh, I'm so sorry to both of you. I'm afraid you are not catching me on my best day.

"While I am all for getting my brother as much protection as possible, and I am sure that Agent Walker is capable at her job, I think there is a big problem with the undercover girlfriend plan," Ellie said while staring at Agent Butterfield.

 _What is the problem? Does Ellie not think that I can do a good job of protecting her brother? Does she think that a CIA, er, Secret Service agent is not good enough for her brother, or is it just me she has an issue with? I get that she's a doctor and he's this heroic, genius software mogul with a heart of gold. But would I really be so bad? Why doesn't Ellie approve of me as girlfriend material._

"The problem would be getting people to accept, even for a day or two, that Agent Walker is dating Chuck," Ellie continued.

 _So she's saying that Chuck wouldn't want to date someone who looks like me? Wait, that two-timing skank of an ex-girlfriend is a brunette. He prefers brunettes, doesn't he? I should look into getting my hair dyed. Or would Chuck want me to stay a blonde?_

"After that bitch Jill broke his heart, Chuck hasn't dated. He hasn't even been interested in dating. I mean it's been two years! He got hurt. Badly. I get that. She's a wretched excuse for a human being who deserves to rot in hell for what she did to such a great guy."

 _Amen to that._

"What I don't get is why my brother doesn't realize what a great guy Chuck Bartowski is."

 _True._

"That he doesn't get that there are other women out there to date."

 _Also true. Wait. Women? Plural?_

"That he can find someone just as great as he is."

 _Hmm. That's a pretty tall order. He's pretty great._

"That he can find someone as intelligent, funny and kind."

 _Uh oh. Funny? Nope. Kind? Not the word most would pick in describing the Ice Queen. I can recall being called a great many things, but I don't ever recall kind being on the list._

"He just needs to get back out there."

"Who needs to get back out where?" Chuck asked as he burst into the room, practically at a run. "Hey sis! Sorry I'm late. Morgan was bombarding me with debate prep questions. I haven't seen him this intense since the pre-release for Call of Duty Black Ops. Morgan literally just mentioned that someone from the Secret Service needed to meet with me. Not like that would be an important fact to mention to someone or anything," Chuck muttered sarcastically, shaking his head in frustration. Chuck turned to face Ron Butterfield when he suddenly realized that there was someone else in the room. His manners kicked in as he turned to greet his new guest.

Sarah watched, curious to see if her suspicions about Chuck being attracted to brunettes was true. She was surprised at how disappointed she felt at her suspicion. That suspicion was quickly allayed as Chuck's jaw literally dropped open when he saw her. However, it wasn't the cartoon like reaction that nearly made her laugh out loud, but the fact that Chuck had been mid turn when his jaw dropped, apparently caused his brain to seize up which resulted in his momentum turning his upper body while his legs stayed rooted to the ground. Chuck quickly became unbalanced and quite literally tripped over his own two feet. He likely would have caused considerable damage to the nearby glass coffee table if it were not for the lightning fast reflexes and protective instincts of Sarah. Before anyone else had even started to react to Chuck's nearly catastrophic attempt to walk, talk and look at Sarah Walker, Sarah had shot out of her seat, grabbing Chuck by the elbow to swing him away from the table. Unfortunately for Chuck, his momentum wasn't quite finished embarrassing him, as he let out a quiet "oof" as he collided with Sarah.

 _Oh, my god. She's Vicky Vale. No, as gorgeous as Kim Bassinger was, this woman is in a whole different league. And the first thing I do when I see her is to nearly impale myself on a glass table. Topped only by slamming into her after she saves me. Bang up job, Chuck._

"Well, I see that we don't have to wonder whether she's capable of protecting my brother," Ellie commented. Then with the edge of her lip starting to curl into a grin, and speaking mostly to herself, she continued, "And maybe we don't have to wonder if there's a problem with the undercover lover plan."

Ron Butterfield had decades of experience as a Secret Service agent in not visibly reacting while on the job. But even he couldn't stop the small grin at the combination of the sister's banter, the shell-shocked look on the protectee, as well as the widened eyes and singular focus of the CIA agent. Every action and statement by Agent Walker had been the height of professionalism since she first joined the team in the Treasury Building back in Washington. But he silently wondered whether Langston Graham's infamous Ice Queen might have just thawed a little bit.

"I…uh…hmmh. Sorry. Hi, I'm Chuck. And the two of you are?" As Chuck desperately tried to regain his equilibrium, while speaking to Agent Butterfield for the first time.

Sarah, meanwhile, was stunned as well. She'd seen plenty of surveillance photos, even a couple of his speeches on YouTube. None of that prepared her for the instant attraction she felt towards him. Or the fact that she had lost track of what he was saying once he made eye contact with her. She instantly realized that the pictures of him had failed to convey just how warm, friendly, open and expressive his eyes were. This was new territory, very new territory, for the Graham's enforcer. _Oh, boy._

Sensing that neither his protectee nor his temporary agent were likely to rejoin the conversation any time soon, Ron Butterfield cleared his throat. "Mr. Bartowski, we know how busy you are with campaigning and preparing for the debate, so I appreciate you taking the time to meet with us. My name is Ron Butterfield, and I am the Agent In Charge for the Secret Service responsible for your security for the upcoming debate. As we were just briefing your sister, the Service has received a threat directed towards you. Politics, unfortunately, often brings out the worst in people. The vast majority of the threats we learn of are harmless venting. Unfortunately, in your case, the threat is specific and credible. Another government agency intercepted some communications, and additional investigation has corroborated you being the target of this threat.

"We have already stationed some agents near this residence, and are working closely with local law enforcement to upgrade security at the debate site. We will do everything in our power to minimize the disruption to your daily schedule. But the information we have is that you are being targeted by an international assassin. Based on that information, we were able to get Agent Walker here assigned to this detail. She is an expert regarding the man coming after you, as well as being a highly decorated field agent."

 _Well, I'm glad that he left out the part about me being a more accomplished assassin than the man hunting him. I doubt that Chuck would find that very reassuring._ Sarah had failed to notice that she was no longer noticing that she thought of him as Chuck rather than the protectee.

"Given your, ah, unattached social status, we can place Agent Walker into your inner circle operating undercover, posing as your girlfriend. That way her presence would be easily explainable, while allowing her immediate access should an attempt on your life be made."

 _'Unattached social status' sounds so much better than sap whose fiancé screwed him over by sleeping with her boss. I haven't even noticed a woman, any woman, since Jill until…sometimes life just isn't fair. After all, its her job to pose as my girlfriend so that she can…take a bullet for me?_

"No. Absolutely not." _Oh, crap. I just said that part out loud didn't I. Man, she does not look happy. But why would she be happier having to risk her life to protect some guy she's never even met before?_

Sarah had hoped for an enthusiastic response from Chuck to the offer to have her pose as his girlfriend. Given the background she knew on him, she was certain that he would understand her role as being bodyguard, not escort. She was not prepared for his vehement refusal to consider the plan.

"Would it be so bad," Sarah softly asked. "Having people think that you and I are a couple?" The nervous fluttering in her stomach was such a foreign, alien feeling that it took her a moment to realize that she was holding her breath awaiting his response. She wanted to cast aside the nerves, embrace her strong, independent, self-sufficient nature. A little voice in the back of her head chimed in: _You are strong. You are independent. You are self-sufficient. You are also lonely and alone._

Chuck's eyes bore into her own. His quick intake of breath as he got lost in the depth of cyan blue seemed loud in the otherwise silent room. Sarah could see the contrition in his eyes, the dawning horror in his expression as he realized that his rejection of the proposal had come across as a rejection of her. She realized that had he been a mark, she would have just manipulated him perfectly. But he wasn't a mark ( _thank god for that_ ), and she despised the thought of having to manipulate him.

"I didn't…I wouldn't…," Chuck paused, once again trying to regain his equilibrium in the presence of the most beautiful woman he'd ever met, who was lobbying to risk her life to protect his own. "I didn't mean to infer any insult to you or your abilities."

"You didn't infer," Sarah responded with a hint of mirth. "You implied. I inferred."

Chuck unconsciously broke into a grin, "I stand corrected." _Man, oh man. She is perfect. Smart, funny, brave, beautiful, beautiful. Wait, I already mentioned beautiful._ He was shocked that he was engaging in banter with this incredible woman. Not only was he engaging with her in banter, but the underlying conversation was about a threat to his life. "Sis, you are awfully happy considering that we're hearing that someone out there wants me dead." Chuck turned to face his sister, his look a mix of confusion and humor at the beaming smile his sister was sporting.

 _Damn, he looks cute right now_ , Sarah thought to herself.

Willing himself to focus, not an easy task in the presence of the alluring Agent Walker or while about to discuss someone trying to kill him, Chuck turned back to Ron Butterfield, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole 'someone wants me dead' concept. But if someone does want to kill me, why would you put one of your top agents right beside me? She would be in just as much danger."

 _This man isn't real. He can't be. His first reaction to learning that he could be killed is to worry about the safety of a complete stranger? Then again, he did become famous for running toward a bomb to save a hotel full of strangers. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised at the quiet bravery of Chuck Bartowski._

Ron Butterfield interrupted Sarah's thoughts, "Having Agent Walker next to you would make you dramatically safer. She is unrivaled in hand to hand and close quarters combat. She is experienced at operating undercover. She would be able to convincingly portray your girlfriend-although it goes without saying that her job is to protect you, to assess threats and engage those threats if necessary. She would not be there to fetch you drinks or, how can I put this, be there for your amusement?"

As the implication of Agent Butterfield's last comment filtered through, Chuck's expression went from one of confusion to one of outrage. "What?! Are you telling me that there are men out there pursuing your agents for sex? That they think getting laid is more important than being kept alive? These agents are trying to keep their sorry asses in one piece and the politicians are looking for a quickie? Someone needs to remind them that they are public servants, not that the public are their servants. Bastards."

Sarah had anticipated that Chuck would be a fundamentally good guy. That he would accept her position as protector, not plaything. But hearing his indignation at the concept of such an attitude resulted in a shocking emotion in her gut. Suddenly, the idea of being Chuck's actual girlfriend instead of just a cover slammed into her. _No, I can't think like that. Focus on him. Sheesh. Focus on the threat against him._

"Well, seeing as how everyone is clear on Agent Walker's role, Mr. Bartowski, would you reconsider your objection to having her operate as your cover girlfriend? As I mentioned, having her close by would make you immeasurably safer, also making my job considerably easier. For security reasons, if she does go undercover, we would need that only you and your sister know of Agent Walker's true capacity."

"If I may," Ellie interrupted. "Agent Walker, I don't want to sound as though only men built like football players are capable of handling protection details, but if this nutcase were to burst in here right now, how is it that you would be able to protect my baby brother?"

"Baby brother, El," Chuck practically whined. "Seriously?"

"Well, Dr. Woodcomb," Sarah calmly replied, not the least bit offended at the question. "First, Javier Cruz isn't some 'nutcase', which is both good and bad for us. It's good because he's not willing to risk it all just to kill your brother. He's going to look for an opportunity where he would be able to escape in the confusion after the attack, rather than be willing to die to get the job done. It's bad because he will be more cautious about things, making it harder to detect the attack before it comes."

"As for your question on protecting Mr. Bartowski…"

"Chuck. Please. If you are going around protecting me, you should at least be able to call me by my name," Chuck modestly stated, causing Sarah to smile just a little too widely. "Besides, it is good for the cover." At those words, Sarah's smile dimmed and she involuntarily and unknowingly hunched her shoulders as she slouched down a bit in her seat. Chuck failed to notice her reaction. His sister did not.

A more subdued Sarah Walker turned back to Ellie, "As for protecting your brother, if Javier Cruz burst in right now, I am an expert shot and I have my service pistol on me right now. If that didn't work, I've got five throwing knives strapped to my leg, another two knives tied to my back, and the needles holding my hair in place have had their tips dipped in a fast acting neurotoxin we call Twilight which would incapacitate a person for 15 to 20 minutes."

By the time Sarah had finished listing her arsenal of weapons (failing to include her own martial art skills), both Bartowski siblings were staring at her in wide-eyed wonder.

"Before we get any further discussing this Cruz guy," Chuck interjected, "El, did you whip up any dinner? Morgan's plans for finding some local spot to eat was ruined when the debate prep ran late." When Ellie's mouth dropped open, Chuck laughed, "I know! Morgan working instead of eating is probably one of the signs of the apocalypse."

"Oh," Ellie said while looking a little ashamed. "About that," she continued as her eyes began to discretely shift back and forth between Chuck and Sarah. "I must have forgotten to pick up food at the store. Why don't you go to that pub, or whatever it was that you kept going on and on and on about?" With what was supposed to be casual indifference, she tacked on, "Maybe Agent Walker can accompany you. You could get to know each other so that everyone believes that you are a couple." Ellie concluded with a beaming smile.

Chuck, for his part, merely looked confused. "But Ellie, I swear that I just saw a bunch of bags in the kitchen just now when I was hurrying in here. How could you have gotten that many groceries and forgotten…"

"Chu-uck," Ellie cut him off with a smile that came across more as a grimace, "there's no food. Now go." With that she tilted her head slightly in the direction of the door and fixed Chuck with her do-as-I-say glare.

Sarah, seeing the opportunity for some one on one time with Chuck, even if he was just interested in protecting the cover, jumped at the chance. "I could use a bite. Plus, your sister is right. We could use some time to learn about each other. That is, if you are free."

With that, Chuck moved behind her to help her with her chair. As the two of them headed out the front door to grab some late dinner at a nearby tavern, Ellie turned to Ron Butterfied, "Would you care for a sandwich or some snacks while you and I discuss protecting Chuck from this killer?"

Ron Butterfield gently shook his head as smile briefly flitted across his face. "Dr. Woodcomb, I have the feeling that you would make a most formidable opponent." Ellie merely beamed in response.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5 The First (Cover) Date, Part II

A/N: We finally get to the cover date between these two. When I started writing this (literally pen to paper), I had a lot of single lines or small glimpse of scenes on paper. The story just didn't want to gel. But from this point on, the characters started to come to life- which is why I had to cut the original chapter in two, then this one in two again (and it is still a long chapter for my stories). Given the way the chapters keep expanding and getting split in two, I'm not sure of the total chapter count. Once again, any words in italics are the internal thoughts of the character.

I'd also like to join David Carner in imploring Kate McK to give us another chapter to Wonderful Cover Life- the title is a play on a Christmas story, and it is that time of year and it is a great story.

Thanks once again to all who are reading, reviewing and/or PMing. I've said it before, but the support in this little corner of the web is outstanding. I hope that you enjoy.

* * *

Chuck and Sarah threw on light jackets as they walked out to the sidewalk. With a nod of his head, Chuck indicated the direction towards their dinner. He was quiet, _not surprising given the fact that Butterfield and I just dropped the news that an elite assassin wants him dead_ , Sarah thought to herself. Still, she longed to experience the banter that he had shared so easily with his sister. Sarah decided to give him the time to come to terms with his new reality.

"As impossible as it is to wrap my head around the idea that someone is out to kill me," Chuck finally said as they rounded the corner down the block from the house that doubled as the campaign headquarters, "that still doesn't mean that I'm ok with you- or anyone else for that matter, this isn't doubting you because you are a beautiful woman or even a regular woman-not that you're not beautiful- you know what? Let just leave it at me not being comfortable with the idea that anyone is going to jump in front of a bullet for me."

"I'm here because I had tracked Javier in the past. I never said anything about taking a bullet for you," Sarah said with a wry grin and a hip bump. "Besides, I'm a little offended that you think that Cruz could try to get to you before I get to him. No confidence in my abilities Mr. Bartowski?" Her broad grin showed that she wasn't offended. "As General Patton once noted: the object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."

As they continued walking up the narrow street, no particular hurry to get to the tavern, a police officer rounded the corner ahead and started walking towards them. With his large build, tactical vest, crew cut hair and mirrored sunglasses, he was an imposing figure. Sarah moved up next to Chuck, sliding her left hand inside Chuck's right arm.

"Not that I'm complaining about the PDA, but can I ask what's going on?" Chuck asked, while wondering why his usual aversion to PDA seemed to be taking a leave of absence in the presence of the fetching Secret Service agent.

"I need to be close to you," _Whoops_. Sarah rushed on, "Just in case this guy is a threat. Close so that I can protect you. And I am a better shot with my right hand. Not that I couldn't make this shot with my left, but why take the chance?" _A little cockiness mixed with another reminder that I am the most deadly person that he's ever met. Winning combination there, Sarah_.

"Sarah, the man is a police officer!" Chuck looked scandalized that she would suspect a police officer of being a threat.

"No, Chuck. All we know is that he is a man dressed like a police officer. Until we know for sure, he is a threat and one who is clearly armed," Sarah's tone brooked no argument on the topic. While she might not be an actual Secret Service agent-not that Chuck knew any better-she knew what she was doing in protecting Chuck against any threat.

Before the officer even took another step towards truck and Sarah, he shifted his attention to a single mother and her small child who was walking with a baseball bat over his shoulder on the far side of the street. The officer quickly cut across the street, approaching the mom and her son. Chuck paused to watch what was happening. The boy was around 11 or 12 years old. With long limbed arms and legs, and that ungainly walk that was a telltale sign of the recent growth spurt. He clearly had not yet adjusted to his new found height, and appeared to be a little embarrassed about it.

The officer came to a halt in the sidewalk directly in front of the boy. The boy looked up and saw him, his head bent down, his shoulders slumped, the bat in his hands dropping down to touch the ground, only held up by two fingers in his hand. But then the officer got down on one knee, getting his head to the young boy's head level, and began talking to him. Suddenly the boy was facing sideways, with the bat held in both hands over his shoulder pretending to be at bat in a game. Just as Chuck was starting to grin at the sight, he watched in horror as the boy took a practice swing, with the bat spinning out of his fingers straight towards police officer's head. The police officer snatched the bat out of the air with one hand, flipping it so that he held the bat by the barrel and waving the handle back towards the young boy.

The boy looked mortified after his mistake, but the officer simply smiled, stood up and pointed out how to properly hold the bat. He moved behind the boy to demonstrate the way to swing. The huge smile on the boy's face at learning the right way to do it was only matched by the smile on his mother's face as she watched with pride as her child learned a new skill. An even bigger smile was on the police officer's face as he patted the young man on the shoulder a few times and then resumed walking down the sidewalk.

The officer had only gone a couple of feet when in a hopeful voice the boy called out "Scottie, can you help me bat tomorrow?"

The officer turned around wincing. "Nick, I'm working a double shift tomorrow." Seeing the boy's face drop in resigned acceptance, the officer paused. "All right buddy, meet me at the park at noon. We can practice through my lunch hour." The boy's grin was infectious as he and his mother waved before walking down the sidewalk, only this time the boy was practically skipping with excitement.

"That's what we need more of in this country," Chuck said as he stood still, watching the mother and son as they continued to head away from the nearby playground. "That sense of community, of trust. For the most part, Democrats and Republicans alike want the same things: a good economy, good healthcare, a good education system, a strong military. Fundamentally, they just differ on how to achieve those goals. But we've lost that sense of community. There is no trust across party lines."

"Trust isn't approved of at with my job, even amongst your own team. Trust is letting down your guard, allowing someone the chance to take advantage of you. For me to trust that the officer was good and honorable meant to risk your life. I won't risk that Chuck. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Sarah didn't mention that she knew the officer wasn't Javier. Last time she had come across Javier, he was a bald, 5'7" Latino who weighed 160 pounds soaking wet. There was no way a 6'3" Anglo built like a brick wall with a full, albeit close cropped, head of hair, could possibly be Javier. But he was unknown and armed, and Sarah wasn't going to risk Chuck's safety. She had known him a whole 30 minutes and she was falling harder and faster than she had ever fallen before. Who was she kidding? She had never felt anything remotely like this before.

Chuck was oblivious to Sarah's internal musings, but he was aware that she was again moving towards Jessop's Tavern. He was also almost painfully aware that she hadn't let go of his arm for the cover PDA. However, given the fact that the street and sidewalk were once again empty, he was struggling to come up with a reason for the PDA if there was no P.

Fearful of facing that awkward lull in a conversation between two people who were practically strangers, Chuck blurted out, "I love seeing things like what that officer did with the boy. Just stopping what you are all wound up in and helping out someone else. That's great. Although skipping lunch?" Chuck joked, "When armed? It's a good thing that I didn't go into law enforcement if it meant skipping meals. I get grouchy- like super grouchy."

"Which kind of sucks," Chuck continued despite his best efforts to reign in his babbling. "'Cause there are all these really cool superpowers out there, but I get grouchiness. I mean, you don't have any grouches for superheroes. Well, there is Oscar, but he's a puppet on Sesame…not a super…you know what," Chuck paused, desperate not to spiral into a distinction between super heroes and Sesame Street characters. _Am I trying to convince her that I'm a complete idiot? First woman that I've paid any proper attention to since…well, in a long time and I'm going to run her off before we even get to the restaurant. Oh no, I didn't even finish my sentence. Speak, Chuck, speak!_

"Running for office is kind of like one long wedding reception." _What in the hell am I saying ?!_ "Lots of events with lots of people you don't really know, and everyone wants to talk to the bride and groom, so they never get to eat, but they can't act all grouchy because it's their wedding so it has to be the best day of their life. Although, come to think of it, Awesome wasn't the least bit grouchy at their reception, even though he didn't get to eat until halfway to the honeymoon. Although that just proves that he is, indeed, Awesome." _Please just let the sidewalk open up and swallow me whole. Who needs Javier to kill me when I'm doing it to myself?_

Sarah had found Chuck's spiraling to be incredibly cute and endearing, but she was completely lost by the end of his mini-speech. "Sorry, but who is awesome? You kind of lost me there at the end." She gave him a genuine smile to soften the blow of her words.

 _Oh, God. She's even more pretty when she smiles. Like ten times more beautiful kind of pretty. Wait, I'm supposed to respond to her. Oh, crap. What was it she said?_ "Oh, uh, Awesome," Chuck let out a self-deprecating laugh. "That's Devon, Ellie's husband. Only I call him Captain Awesome because there is no other way to describe the guy. It drives Ellie crazy when I say it, but he does so many amazing things that he's the Captain of Awesome."

Sarah laughed at the image of Ellie getting exasperated with Chuck being Chuck. She imagined that it happened quite often.

"So, Chuck, where are we headed? What place is it that your sister claims has you all worked up?" Sarah asked, walking so close to Chuck that their hips brushed as they walked towards the restaurant. Chuck kept being completely driven to distraction by the beautiful agent beside him. _Is it me or are these sidewalks much narrower than normal ones_ , he wondered.

"It's, uh, it's just a couple of blocks south of here. Jessop's Tavern. And I thank you for referring to it as 'worked up'. Ellie and Awesome usually just say 'geeking out' or 'nerding out'. History never seemed to be a class that the cool kids in school chose unless it was some type of prerequisite. Don't get me wrong, my first love will always be computers. Hardware or software, doesn't matter either way. It just comes naturally to me. I can understand it often without even having to think about it.

"But history always fascinated me. After all, we're just building on what women and men who came before us first learned. There's the saying that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. We are able to move forward not only because of the discoveries of our predecessors, but also because of the lessons learned from their mistakes. Plus, every person you see is living history of their parents, their grandparents, on and on through time."

Sarah marveled at the quiet depths of the man walking beside her. He held fascination in so many aspects of the world around him. There was also his compassion for others, family and friends as well as strangers alike. She was surprised at the trace of jealousy she felt towards his sister and friends at having such a good person in their lives, at their sides. She had always prided herself on self-sufficiency, self-reliance. But now those character traits seemed synonymous with loneliness.

"Ellie was giving me a hard time for 'geeking out' about Jessop's Tavern. But it's hard not to be excited about visiting it. The tavern opened its doors for business 50 years before the Revolutionary War. Think about that. People who helped win the independence for our country could have made plans in that very spot that were crucial to victory. Long before interstate highways were ever dreamed of, this area was a popular route for people traveling from Philadelphia to Baltimore."

Chuck paused on their walk, looking ahead, clearly picturing how the area may have looked back then. Sarah then saw Chuck's expression change and knew that he had ended his mental journey back in history, and was once again thinking about the assassin hunting him. She had been surprised at the campaign headquarters when Agent Butterfield had asked what Chuck's thoughts were on the girlfriend protection plan. To her, Chuck was an open book. It was so refreshing after so many years of dealing with CIA agents who only showed what they chose to reveal.

She knew that he was worried about the assassin, but she didn't anticipate the real reason for his concern. "This Cruz guy who's after me, just what kind of a threat are we talking about here?" Chuck asked, turning slightly to look at her over his shoulder.

"Trust me, Chuck. I won't let Cruz get through me to hurt you. I'm going to make sure that you are safe." _Damn. Not supposed to make guarantees like that to protectees. I may not technically be with the Secret Service, but I know that they are not supposed to say stuff like that._

"How much danger are Ellie and Awesome in? What about Morgan? Or even the volunteers helping us out? What about all the people that are going to be at the debate? Or…"

"I never intended any of this, you know," Chuck suddenly said as they walked down a small alleyway between a pair of historic buildings. "I just happened to hear the radio in the police car saying the bomb was wired through a laptop, and I happened to know a weakness in that platform. Ok, Morgan had one that got fried by the same virus on the Irene Demova website. So I knew going in that my plan would work. It wasn't really that heroic."

"You keep telling yourself that Chuck," Sarah replied as she gently shook her head from side to side as she turned onto the sidewalk leading to the restaurant.

"Are you sure that you are comfortable with this?" Chuck asked, as they approached Jessop's. At Sarah's confused look, he continued, "The whole cover girlfriend role. Plus, I mean do you really think that the general public, much less some Jason Bourne international assassin type is going to find it remotely credible that a stunning, intelligent Secret Service agent would fall for a regular guy like me?"

"First of all, you are hardly a 'regular' guy," Sarah replied, trying not to lose her cool at him putting himself down. "#3 in your class at Stanford. Wildly successful not only with videogames, but also with educational software that you practically give away, and designing your own smartphone. A man who willingly risked his own life to safe a hotel full of strangers. But I thank you for the compliments. Stunning I've gotten a few times before, but most guys aren't focused on my brains. Plus, the objective would be for people not to know that I'm with the Secret Service."

Sarah glances away, strangely uncomfortable with deceiving Chuck about her actual job. She hated the idea of lying to him. It was an odd feeling. She had pulled the trigger more times than she cared to remember. She had burned assets, conned marks, but lying to Chuck? That just felt wrong. He was such a good guy, and he deserved the truth. But could he handle the truth? Could her position on the Secret Service detail survive telling him the truth about how she came to be there? She did not have a ready answer to either question. But she still knew what she needed to do, even if it scared her silly.

"Truth is, and you cannot repeat this to anyone, not your sister, not Awesome." She paused, unintentionally building the suspense, failing to realize that Chuck was grinning over the fact that she has adopted his nickname for Devon unconsciously. "You cannot even tell your little friend Morgan. No one. I'm not usually with the Secret Service, Chuck. I am a CIA agent on temporary duty to the Secret Service. I'm here…," Sarah paused to take a calming breath. _Telling him that I'm with the CIA just broke about a dozen regulations, telling him what I do for the CIA would make those violations look like child's play_.

"I'm here because I do what Cruz does, only better and under orders. The Secret Service agents are going into the Carpenter Center focused on guarding the protectee. I go in thinking, 'where would I set up? What weapon would work best here?' I'm more of a shoot the bad guy before he can shoot us, instead of take a bullet for some random politician-kind of like what Patton said. Unfortunately, I wasn't kidding when I said that my job is to shot Cruz before he can shoot you. I'm not here to stop Cruz and then arrest and prosecute him. I'm here to stop Cruz by any means necessary. Butterfield asked for me not only because I know Cruz, but because I'm better than he is at what he does," Sarah looked away before finishing in a soft voice, "and he's one of the best in the world."

Chuck was stunned. He had gone from encountering the most beautiful woman he'd ever met, bantering with her like they were old friends, to learning that there was an international assassin out to kill him. But now, not only was there an assassin out to kill him, there was another assassin out to protect him by killing the first assassin. Even more confusing was the fact that he knew that she was a good person, that he inherently trusts her. How can he trust trust a killer? How can he not trust Sarah?

Chuck was still in a fog when Sarah pulled him to a stop in front of a small restaurant with a window looking out onto the narrow street crookedly leading down to the river landing. She opened the door, guiding in a befuddled Chuck, fearing that he would run from her while convinced that his life would be better the sooner she was out of it.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Bartowski headquarters, Ellie was using her finely honed interrogation skills on Ron Butterfield. Unsuccessfully.

"Before I feel safe entrusting Chuck's safety to this cover girlfriend, I'm going to need a full background on her."

"Dr. Woodcomb, with all due respect, you want a full bio. You do not need one. Unfortunately, you are not going to get one. Information on Agent Walker is classified, much of it classified beyond my paygrade. I can tell you this. My team is made up of top class agents, each with successful careers. However, Agent Walker is in a different category. She is in the elite of the elite. We are all fortunate to have her on the team. In fact, I had to pull a lot of strings and use up several markers to get her on this detail. At the Secret Service, we take tremendous pride in stopping threats such as this one, in keeping our protectees safe while still enabling them to perform their jobs. But the rest of the detail, myself included, are not on the same level as Agent Walker."

"Simply put, having Agent Walker on our detail makes us significantly better in being able to stop the threat. I would also like to point out that having her posing as your brother's girlfriend will help tremendously by keeping her in close proximity to your brother at all times, while appearing inconspicuous."

"Inconspicuous? Have you seen the woman, Agent Butterfield? Inconspicuous is the last word I would use to describe Agent Walker."

"She may attract attention for her looks, but if you had met her at an election event, would your first thought be that she was security? That she was more than capable of stopping a world class assassin in his tracks?"

"Dr. Woodcomb, I had to go to Agent Walker and request that she take on the role of cover girlfriend. It was well within her rights to reject the mission. After discussing the threat, and my idea for the cover, she agreed. In doing so, she is willingly putting herself immediately next to a man that someone wants dead. Think about that for a moment. Mr. Bartowski's life is in danger, and she's volunteering to be in just as great a danger in order to keep him safe."

That got Ellie's attention. Her eager expression turned pensive as she plopped back in her chair. She clearly had matchmaking in mind, but the reminder of the grave risk her brother was facing put those thoughts away.

"Doctor, you are welcome to request personal details from Agent Walker, but it is entirely up to her if she chooses to tell you anything or nothing at all. Even if she wants to tell you some things, she will likely be limited as so much of her career is code-word classified. If she doesn't want to tell you anything, that is up to her. There will be no repercussions to her professionally for refusing to disclose information. But if you choose to question her, a word of caution-you want her on this detail. Don't run her off in your desire to set up your brother."

* * *

Chuck nearly had to duck going through the doorway, then duck again at the exposed wooden beams in the low hung ceiling of the narrow tavern that had captured his fascination, and caused Ellie such exasperation. But as soon as the door shut behind them, Chuck shook off the fog in his head and spun in a circle, taking in the small establishment.

"Isn't this place amazing," Chuck said, gesturing to the narrow, dimly lit restaurant that could hold maybe forty people at capacity.

"Amazing, Chuck? Really? You literally had to duck your head not to hit the wooden beams in the ceiling," Sarah snorted. _Since when do I snort?_ But she was feeling practically giddy over the fact that Chuck had snapped out of his funk and was looking at her with such excitement and joy in his eyes. Yesterday she'd been dreading what she would find when she entered the Treasury Building. Tonight she was feeling more alive than any time in the past ten years.

"Oh, come on Sarah! Embrace the adventure," Chuck exclaimed. "Can't you just picture Ben Franklin and John Adams at the table by the window talking about the latest developments in the war against the Crown? Or George Washington meeting up with General Pulaski by the bar? Or the Culper Ring meeting at that table in the back?" Chuck was animated as he brought the scene to life.

"You do know the Culper Ring operated out of New York City, don't you? Back then, it would have taken close to a full day's travel to get from here to there." She paused. She shouldn't say it, but she had to ask. "Got a thing for espionage, Chuck?"

"Not necessarily. It's just disappointing that so few people know about the Culper Ring. Back at Stanford there was a guy who was convinced it had to do with Saturn. Seriously. He thought the Culper Ring was the name of one of Saturn's rings. Come to think of it, I was never sure how he got accepted into the school or passed any of his classes for that matter."

"Anyway, everyone should know about a small group of people who were so important, vital even, to this country and winning the Revolutionary War. Do you know that historians think that one of the key members was a woman, that she was caught and killed, but no one even remembers her name? How tragic is that? There should be buildings, highways and parks named in her honor, but she is forgotten in the mists of time." Chuck was genuinely frustrated over the anonymity of a woman who died more than two hundred years before he was born.

"You know Chuck, even if you don't know her name. You remember her, and doesn't that make her sacrifice worth it?" She knew as she said it that her words were too intense, her gaze too locked onto his. She could see that he realized that the answer was important to her, even if he had no idea as to why.

"Sarah, I helped to disarm a bomb, and I get labeled a hero. She helped to create a nation so that you and I can enjoy the independence and rights that we have today. It isn't remotely fair that everyone knows who I am, but no one knows her name." Chuck wasn't clear how the conversation had suddenly shifted from his fanciful speculation on history to the serious conversation they were having, but the how wasn't important. The very fact that they were having it was important to Sarah somehow. He could practically feel the electricity in the air as they gazed at each other, tuning out the rest of the restaurant patrons around them.

Sarah vehemently rejected his description of his actions, "You didn't help to disarm a bomb, Chuck. You were the one to figure out how to defeat the bomb clock and triggers by disabling the laptop. You were labeled a hero, Chuck, because you are one. Some people are born to be heroes Chuck. I've got news for you. You are one of them."

"At least with the Wall of Honor at the CIA headquarters, they know who each star is for. They may not tell people for another 50 years or so, but they know," Sarah said quietly. She started to do what she so often struggled not to- namely think about how she could have died on so many of her missions. The only one who would have known who the star was for would have been Graham. Would he have even cared? Or was she just disposable to him? He claimed that she was different from the 'cannon fodder' that formed the ranks of most of the covert action teams. But how could she believe him, despite the fact that she had bought his lines (or was that lies) so often in her early days with the Agency?

They made their way to a small table towards the back of the tavern, with Chuck noticing, but not commenting, on the fact that she made a point of taking the chair whose back was to the wall and allowed her an unfettered view of the restaurant and front door. Sarah realized that she rather liked the quaint eatery, with the faintly musky scent of old wood, and minimal lighting. Not the most romantic of spots, but unquestionably historical and therefore perfect for Chuck. She noted the period attire for the female servers, and was suddenly grateful that she had never had to put on some costume to work undercover in a theme restaurant.

By unspoken agreement, there was no further talk of international assassins, the CIA or Revolutionary War era spies. The meal passed quickly, with Chuck discussing the Swedish influence on Delaware during the pre-Colonial period as reflected in some of the dishes at Jessop's. Sarah was impressed at his culinary bravery in trying motor oil ice cream without asking what was in it, or how it came to have that name. But sooner than she would have liked, they had settled the tab and were about to wander back out of the door to the real world. Sitting at the small table in a quaint historical tavern had been, for Chuck, a wonderful dream where he had spent time with an incredible woman who had not only accepted, but seemed to enjoy, his fascination with history and mental journeys back through time.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch. 6 Breaking Cover

A/N: There were a couple of folks who asked, so the answer is yes, Jessop's is a real tavern, and yes they do offer "motor oil" ice cream. For those who are wondering, no I haven't tried it. I went there once after I started working on this story and wound up nearby visiting family. While I did eat there on my visit, the coffee ice cream with caramel swirls and fudge swirls wasn't on the top of my choices from the menu.

The idea for Chuck's fascination with history is a variation on little details from him interacting with Sasha Banacek (describing how the croissant came to be) and Hannah (in describing the story behind the Eiffel Tower). I figured that a Chuck who was a candidate for President could have a fascination with the history of the US.

As with earlier chapters, any words in italics represent the thoughts of the character.

* * *

Stepping back onto the sidewalk outside of Jessop's Tavern had ended the dream that Chuck had had over dinner with his captivating protector, causing him to remember why she was with him, and who was now after him. While a part of him reveled in the fact that she had slid her arm through the crook of his elbow as they started to walk the two blocks to Battery Park, another part of him noted that it was once again her left arm wrapped around his arm keeping her right hand free. Or there was the fact that while she would look him in the eye while speaking to him, as soon as she finished speaking, she would again visually scan the area. He was on a rollercoaster of emotions, at a loss on what to focus on most.

Chuck was quiet as they made their way out of Jessop's Tavern, only paying passing attention to where he was walking. As a spy, Sarah knew that she needed to be vigilant in case Cruz was already in the area. But try as she might to focus on their surroundings, Sarah's attention was mostly on Chuck. She had read every scrap of information that the CIA and Secret Service had on Chuck, as well as – maybe, possibly, theoretically- checking Google, Wikipedia and even YouTube- for additional information on him. She already knew that quiet Chuck was not normal Chuck.

Despite the pressure and scrutiny of running a nationwide political campaign, Chuck had come across as upbeat, outgoing, a social creature in a nerd's body. That had changed some once he learned that there was a threat to his life. Sarah suspected that part of the change was how conflicted he clearly felt over her life being put in danger to protect his, as well as the risk to those around him. The irony being the more time she spent around Chuck, the more she wanted to see the friendly, open, outgoing Chuck that drew people in. Yet, the more she wanted to see her Chuck, the more determined she became to not only stay by his side, but to make sure that no one could harm him- fully committed to putting herself squarely in between him and any threat to his safety. At the start of their walk, she had told him that she wasn't there to take a bullet for him. At this point, she couldn't imagine not doing so.

Chuck was still stunned. Back at the campaign headquarters, he had thought Sarah to be the most badass person he had ever met when he believed her to be a Secret Service agent. But a spy! That was orders of magnitude more badass. At the same time, it was a little intimidating to think that the United States Secret Service took the threat to his life so seriously that they sought her out specifically. That meant that she was elite among the elite, the best of the best. She was so skilled that she was even known by her reputation to other government agencies.

It begged the question: why wasn't she bitter about this assignment? She could be out quelling revolutions with a fork, but instead she was babysitting him. She could have been out saving the world, instead she was enduring him geeking out over the history of a restaurant. Was the threat against his life so significant that it justified sending one of the CIA's top spies?

Sarah watched as the emotions flitted across Chuck's eyes. _Those oh so warm, friendly eyes that were chocolate brown with flecks of gold_. She could practically read his thoughts. With Chuck, his eyes were definitely the gateway to his soul. He was so good, so pure. She felt an aching in her chest when she realized how wrong it was for someone so pure to be associating with someone as tainted as she was. Someone who exceled in the dance of death, dispensing justice as it was determined by the CIA Director. She had so much blood on her hands that she could never hope to be as good as Chuck- even while being convinced that no one was as good as Chuck. He simply set that bar too high. She had killed more times than she could count, a depressing realization. She knew that Langston Graham was keeping tally, a macabre score in his game of spying. He kept score in order to break her, to keep her broken, to keep her under his control. His Enforcer.

Over dinner, she realized that Chuck could be her path to redemption. Had she done horrible things? Yes. She had become a modern day Valkyrie, except that instead of transporting the souls of brave warriors to Valhalla, she consigned the souls of killers, despots, human traffickers and traitors to the pits of hell. But to protect and defend someone so inherently good as Chuck had to counterbalance some of the horrors she had wrought. But she wasn't only interested in protecting and defending Chuck. She wanted more. Not just for the ephemeral greater good, but for the good of Sarah Walker.

Chuck snapped out of his spiral to see Sarah looking at him, but clearly seeing something else. Her vibrant blue eyes clouded over with a deep, fundamental pain. The idea of Sarah Walker suffering any pain was so repugnant, so fundamentally wrong that Chuck forced himself out of his moping. Sarah Walker was an incredible person, so far out of his league that it wasn't even funny. There was no way that he was going to sit around wallowing in self-pity while she was hurting. He would ease her pain, get her on her feet again. He didn't know how, but it was now his mission.

The two were quiet, lost in their own thoughts and they looked out over the water of the river, cloaked in darkness, as it slowly made its way past the two, heading to a bay to eventually make its way out to a vast ocean.

Chuck barely noticed the scenery and natural splendor, caught up in thoughts of the threat to his life and the woman who was simultaneously the most interesting, yet most scary, woman he'd ever met. Sarah glanced around at the breakwaters out in the river. Rather than assessing the threat risk for the terrain, she felt herself slipping back in time to imagine how the area looked when William Penn came ashore there before making his way north a handful of miles to found the colony turned Commonwealth that still bears his name.

It appeared that Chuck's enthusiasm for the living history of the place was contagious. It would be so easy, surprisingly easy in fact, to join Chuck in picturing peeling back layers of time to watch an entire story play out on the birth of their nation. As Chuck had noted, some of the major players making crucial decisions had likely been at this very location. Sarah made a mental note to herself to come back with Chuck once the election was over… _wait…what?_!

"You seem to get captivated quite easily with history," Sarah commented, trying to get her mind off of the image of her and Chuck traveling and exploring together. She decided to bring the conversation back to the earlier topic, before the revelation that she was a lethal spy. She quickly realized that her spontaneous comment would get Chuck to reveal facts about himself, which would only deepen her fascination with the man next to her. _I am so beyond compromised and I've barely spent two hours in his company_. She had noted how quiet he had gone after leaving the Tavern, and wanted desperately to engage in lighthearted banter with him. _Or is that a thing of the past now that he knows the truth about who I am, about what I am?_

"My sister Ellie would get irritated with my fascination with history when we were kids growing up in LA. And that was in LA with its relatively short history compared to the original colonies. When we were still kids our parents just disappeared. First mom, then after a bit, my father vanished as well. Despite our money being tight, she would still drag me to the museums, so this fascination with history is partly her fault. But she took on the role of surrogate mom, despite still being a kid herself. I'm sure she would thank her lucky stars if she knew that you were the one getting stuck dealing with me nerding out like this. That character flaw of mine seems magnified here at the birthplace of our country."

"It's not a flaw, and she's not the lucky one." _Oh hell, did I just say that out loud? Judging by the stunned look on his face, yep. Good one Sarah._ Sarah was horrified. Not just at the words that had tumbled out of her mouth with no filter whatsoever. Not just at the urgency with which the words had been said. She was horrified at the way she had swept in front of Chuck, grabbing both of his hands in hers, and staring into his eyes as she spoke. _Oh, those eyes_.

For a politician he was horrible at hiding his emotions. Every emotion that churned through him could be read so easily through his eyes. There was confusion as his eyes darted from side to side as he puzzled through her statement. There was hope and elation as his eyes grew wide when the words sank into his conscience and he realized that Sarah Walker was attracted to him. Then there was a flicker of pain as self-doubt clearly crushed the idea that she could be into him. Sarah didn't know why he would doubt her attraction, but she was certain that he had just stopped himself from believing the truth that was right before his eyes.

Seeing the pain in Chuck's eyes felt like a punch to her gut. No, she had taken countless punches to her gut over the years: training, missions, even her semi-regular sparring matches with her friend Carina. Seeing the pain and self-doubt in Chuck's eyes was far, far worse. _What in the hell is happening to me?_

Crushing self-doubt and hurt from his momentary delusion of grandeur- _why would the most beautiful woman I've ever met, who also happened to be a total bad ass CIA agent be attracted to me_ -washed over Chuck as he found himself completely at the mercy of Sarah's mesmerizing eyes. Chuck watched in rapt fascination as her eyes shifted in color from a glacier blue to a darker hue.

Something inside of Sarah snapped. He had been spiraling, freaking out about the threat that the assassin coming after him posed to everyone but him. He was just too good of a man to be real. An idea came to her on how to stop his spiraling. A bad idea, really bad. She would be crossing a line in the sand that ought not to be crossed. But once the idea was there, it just wouldn't go away. She acted without further thought, grabbing his face with both hands and soundly kissing him.

The kiss succeeded in stopping Chuck's spiraling. It also stopped his ability to think, and for a moment his ability to even breathe. He froze completely, and for a bit the kiss was completely one sided. Sarah felt dread that her idea had been even worse than she thought, as the spiraling solution appeared to be unwelcome to Chuck. Apparently something then snapped in Chuck as well, as he went from frozen in place to kissing her back just as soundly.

For Chuck, he had been so focused on her eyes that his brain hadn't even processed her closing the short gap between the two. His brain then had completely shorted out as her lips captured his, initially aggressive as though she would not be denied this prize.

Then, as his body reacted to the kiss that his mind was incapable of processing, her kiss shifted to a softer, more sensual kiss as Chuck returned the favor. She had been trained in seduction by the best in the world, she had a few lovers over the years who had been experienced, skilled. But she hadn't been trained to expect that kiss. Her past experiences were a mere shadow of the intensity of the sensation of kissing Chuck Bartowski.

When they both came up for air, Sarah was shocked that she had let her rigid grip on control slip like that. She looked at Chuck who looked like he had either just won the lottery, or that he was still dreaming. She needed to be on top of her game to make sure that Javier wouldn't get past her. Constantly thinking about recreating that kiss would be a massive distraction that she couldn't afford if she was to keep Chuck safe.

"The kiss was a mistake". _I can do this. I can get through a few more words no matter how hard or painful it is_. "One that won't be repeated." She was memorizing every moment of the encounter, as painful as it was for her-and him. Sarah knew that these lies-while achingly necessary-would ruin her future with this incredible man. Ruin her entire future, really. After all, Chuck was in an entirely different league than any man she had met before. He was caring, compassionate and brilliant-so utterly brilliant, she loved watching him solving a puzzle-while being so good. A pure soul. She would end this for his sake, and she would never find another man who would come close to equaling him—

"That was not good," Sarah grumbled mostly to herself. "So not good."

"What?! I'm, uh, sorry? I'm a little rusty. Or more than a little rusty, I guess. I has been a while. But the kiss was amazing on my end. Just saying," Chuck said, dejected at the thought of having disappointed Sarah.

Sarah froze, as the realization of what she had said, and how Chuck had interpreted it, slammed into her. She had to make this right, and quickly. She wouldn't allow him to doubt himself like that due to her. "No! Not the kiss. Oh my god, not the kiss. It's just that the CIA prohibits agents from getting involved with their assets, so I'm pretty sure the Secret Service would prohibit an agent from getting involved with a protectee. That's why the kiss was a mistake." _Liar, that was no mistake_. "It won't happen again. It can't happen again." _God, I already want to kiss him. That was incredible. I don't even know what that was, but that was not just a kiss_. "If the CIA suspected that I was compromised, they would have me on the next flight to Jakarta."

Chuck paused, sobering up quickly from the adrenaline rush that had come with kissing Sarah. He tried to focus on the piece that seemed to be missing from the puzzle that was Sarah Walker, and not the fact that his legs still felt like jelly. Or the fact that kissing Jill had never come close to that experience. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think of a way where they could be together but she could still keep her job.

"Ah, to hell with it." She growled right before launching herself at him. Their first kiss had been devastating. There was no way she would ever forget any detail of it. The way his lips fit perfectly with hers. The feeling of finally running her fingers through those curls in his hair. The feeling of his long, strong hands grasping her.

Their second kiss put the first kiss to shame. There had been no holding back. Sarah Walker the consummate spy had utterly surrendered herself to the kiss. From a life of constant situational awareness every waking moment of her day, she had lost any ability to think beyond the all-consuming need to keep kissing him. She had no idea who was around them. She had no idea how long they had been kissing. Hell, she had no idea who she even was. But she definitely liked this new her. Especially when this new her was kissing Chuck. And man, was he ever kissing back.

"Wha—, um..how..um, wha...I'm a little lost here Sarah. How did we get from 'this kiss will never be repeated' to that...well, technically that was not a repeat of the first kiss. That...wow, that was..." Chuck lost the thread of thought for a moment before shaking his head and continuing. "So while the second kiss wasn't a repeat of the first kiss, it was so much more...I'm not sure words can describe just what it was so much more of...But how did we go from the first kiss being a mistake to, well, that?"

"Simple, I gave up. I decided to surrender myself...well, not to you. More to us. I surrendered myself to us." At the word 'us', Chuck's face spread wide with a grin. _Note to self: get Chuck to grin at me like that once a day forever_. Then again, that grin made her bones feel like they were suddenly made a jello- _maybe the grin needed to come with a surgeon general warning 'do not experience this grin while operating a vehicle, may cause delirium'_.

"We need to keep this quiet," Sarah started to say, once she had regained the ability to both think clearly and to be able to speak coherently again. Seeing a shuttered look come over Chuck's face, she realized, belatedly, how that sounded. "I'm not saying that we stop. Honestly, at this point I'm not sure I could if I wanted to," Sarah paused to clasp both of his hands in hers again. "And for the record, I definitely don't want to stop. It's just that in order for this to not stop, the Secret Service can't find out. I'm pretty sure that there are regulations against agents getting involved with their protectees. Thank god this isn't a CIA operation, then you'd be my asset and asset/handler relations are completely forbidden."

"Um, Sarah? How is me being a 'protectee' of the Secret Service any different from me being an asset to the CIA?"

"You know, it's really not fair that you are that good at kissing, while also being that intelligent. Seeing as how I've already broken countless regulations, why not break them all in one go? Because neither of us is interested in stopping whatever this is between us, you deserve to know before you get too far."

"Chuck, you have to understand this. Because I am CIA, not Secret Service, their regulations against involvement with a protectee arguably don't apply to me. But because this is a Secret Service op, not a CIA mission, you aren't deemed an asset, and therefore the CIA regulations don't apply to me. But that's me. You, on the other hand, you didn't know that I was a killer until just now. You don't have Secret Service or CIA regulations prohibiting you from pursuing a relationship."

"But you also don't have the full picture. There have been times, more than I ever want to remember, where I planned for weeks to shoot, poison or bomb a target-a person, Chuck. What had been a living, breathing person. I was assigned to end their life, and I did. Over and over again. More times than that, though, I had to use lethal force to get out of a jam when a mission went all pear shaped and it was kill or be killed." She stopped speaking suddenly, turning and gazing up river towards the container ships heading into the port in Philadelphia.

She kept wanting him to understand that she had done horrible, horrible things in her past. He was a good man, running for the highest position in the land. And she was a killer, the Ice Queen. Enemies of the United States knew that if she was in town, then they were in trouble. Being with her would destroy his career as a politician. All of that change that he envisioned, the path to continued greatness for the country, all would be destroyed once word got out that she was by his side.

Sarah had never shied away from the fact that she had killed, and that she was really good at it. Possibly even the best in the world. Yet she didn't take pride at being an elite assassin. Although Casey had given her respect when he realized she was the Ice Queen, it was the type of respect that she accepted coming from Casey, but didn't want coming from Chuck

"Chuck, I know that we just met, and you have absolutely no reason to trust me, and some reasons not to trust me based on our discussion of my past exploits, but after meeting you and having read the file on you, I just want you to know that I won't let anyone hurt you. I won't let anything bad happen to you. I'm not supposed to make any guarantees to a protectee of the Secret Service, but Javier isn't going to get to you while I still breathe." There was absolute certainty in her voice and in her gaze, although Chuck could almost swear that there was something else in her gaze, attraction even though that seemed impossible to him.

Chuck was 100% certain that he could trust Sarah, he was also 100% certain that he was falling in love with the beautiful and enigmatic spy. He was pretty sure that when the threat from Javier was gone, Sarah would leave soon after. He was definitely sure that his heart would leave with her.

Chuck realized that Sarah was still staring into his eyes, her look one of complete determination, but he also saw the vulnerability behind her look. He realized that she was worried about his reaction to her revealing her background. "Sarah, you say that you are an elite assassin, but I can also tell that you are something else, something more. You are a good person, and I trust you. And I'm not just talking about trusting you with my life," Chuck finished. This had been an emotional and intense conversation, but it felt too soon to say the next part that he had left unsaid. At least unsaid for the moment. He had just met her, how could he feel this strongly this fast? And how was it that he was absolutely confident in his feelings towards her?

"I've had to do a lot for the 'greater good'," Sarah continued, desperate to get him to understand, yet fearful of what would happen once he did. "Sometimes it's clear, like preventing some warlord from carrying out ethnic cleansing because another group of people in his area were from another area slightly farther away 200 years earlier. But a lot of the time it's murky. I don't always know if what I'm doing is good. I have to trust my boss that a person I'd never heard of before needs to be dead. The irony is that the Agency emphasizes to not trust anyone."

"First of all," Chuck countered, "the fact that you've stopped ethnic cleansing is amazing. But I'd like to think that this right here isn't murky. I'm far from perfect but I don't think I've done anything that justifies someone trying to kill me. So you protecting me is a definite good deed- in my book at least."

"I'm glad that you're giving me credit for a good deed here. But a lot of things that I have done to achieve the 'greater good' you wouldn't approve of Chuck," Sarah said, fighting against the tempting hope that he might not despise her after all. But he was still so good, so pure.

"I have done what our government orders me to do," she continued. "I've been trained in over two hundred ways to kill a person. And I've used so many of those techniques over the years in my career that you wouldn't sleep at night simply from hearing the descriptions of what I've done."

"Did you ever ask yourself," Chuck questioned quietly, turning to face her as they stood on the floating dock facing the nearby shoreline of New Jersey, "whether I, or the other people around here, would be able to sleep at night if you hadn't stopped those people? Whether your actions prevented another 9/11, Boston marathon, Lockerbie Scotland or even Oklahoma City? How much safer is the world in general, or the US in particular, because of the terrorists, despots and garden variety killers that you have stopped?"

"I have so much baggage. Things you don't know about. Things so classified I may never be able to tell you about. I'll probably make the world's worst girlfriend"-there was that heart stopping grin again, _he really needs to give some kind of warning before unleashing that thing_ -"but I'm not strong enough to stay away."

"Not strong enough? Sarah, you are the strongest woman I've ever met. And considering that that group includes Ellie, that is quite the statement. I'm pretty sure you could leap over tall buildings in a single bound without breaking a sweat."

"I'm no Lara. Or were you thinking more Kara Zor-el?"

(Meep) "Marry me?" Chuck blurted out, before turning bright red with embarrassment.

"I don't see a ring," Sarah said, laughing as Chuck blushed an even deeper red. She couldn't resist a little more teasing. "Not yet Chuck. Not yet."

Chuck was mortified with his spontaneous proposal of marriage. But as she teased his look shifted from confusion to hope, sporting a look of awe before Sarah continued.

"Which one is the mom and which one is the sister? I can never remember. I guess I need to brush up on my Marvel comic knowledge if we're going to make this work. "

The look of awe on Chuck's face was replaced by a look of horror. "Marvel? How could you think the Justice League was part of the Marvel universe?"

Chuck broke off his rant before it got started as Sarah wrapped her arms around her stomach and doubled over, laughing hysterically.

"Oh, so that's the way it's going to be?" Chuck said while trying to look stern. He failed miserably.

"Yep. You might as well get used to it," Sarah said as she popped a shoulder while continuing to walk back to the landing.

"Somehow I doubt there's ever 'getting used to' you Sarah Walker. But check with me again in 10 or 20 years."

Taking her by the hand and starting to walk back to the campaign headquarters ( _hey, if she can do PDA when there is no P, why can't I?_ ), Chuck mumbled, "I'm still pretty sure about the leaping over tall buildings part."

"Thank you Chuck. Or are you just saying that because you want to see me dressed up as Supergirl some day?" Sarah subtly wove her fingers through his as they walked along. She owed a major debt to Dave in the S&T Directorate. She had asked for a shallow dive prep on comic books, just in case. She had never seen Dave get that excited about a mission prep before. Good thing that prep had come before the search on his parents- which still made her spy sense tingle. Whatever marker he called in in the future-so worth it.

Chuck's brain promptly froze when she forced the mental image of her in a Supergirl costume into his head and he stumbled forward, a face plant avoided only by Sarah reaching over with her free hand and grasping him as he pitched forward. While he was grateful for her stopping him from certain, painful injury, he could have done without the tinkling laughter that was so loud it echoed from the walls of nearby buildings. Then again, he'd be willing to do pretty much anything to hear Sarah laugh with carefree abandon-including face-planting on the brick walkway. It was truly that glorious of a sound.

* * *

Ellie watched closely as Chuck and Sarah returned from their walk-a rather extended walk. Chuck had a wide grin and his eyes were alive. He was-in a word- smitten. Ellie heard a grunt from beside her that distinctly sounded like "sucker". She looked over at John Casey who smirked at Chuck before briefly glancing at Sarah. Clearly Casey didn't see anything concerning with his perusal of the agent, but Ellie did. Not concerning, necessarily, but intriguing. While Sarah's face was the same tightly controlled appearance, her eyes were shining in a way that was far different from Ellie's first encounter with the formidable young woman.

"Agent Walker," Ellie began, looking down at her hands folded in her lap. "I wanted to thank you for taking on this mission despite the attitude I gave you this afternoon at the Carpenter Center. I had just learned that my baby brother's life was in danger, and I went into mama bear mode. I was lashing out, and unfortunately, you were the first one in my path. I hope that you can forgive me."

"I spoke to Agent Butterfield," Ellie continued when Sarah looked surprised by the declaration. "To say that the man speaks highly of you would be a massive understatement. I am grateful that you, and the rest of the detail, are doing everything you can to keep my brother safe. I'm sure that when you look at him you see a successful videogame creator. He is a surprisingly good businessman, which I never would have anticipated-even though I'm convinced that Chuck can do anything he sets his mind to, and do it well. But when I look at him, I just see my bratty little brother and think that it is still my responsibility to look out for him."

"It's ok, Doctor. Chuck told me about your parents disappearing when you two were only kids. I get that you are used to looking out for him. I don't blame you at all."

"Wait, Chuck told you about our parents? He volunteered the information?" Ellie asked, a strange gleam in her eyes.

"Yes," Sarah cautiously replied. She knew that Ellie's questions were somehow significant, but she had no clue as to why.

Ellie carefully schooled her expression, "Oh, it's no big deal." Sarah didn't buy that or the calm façade that Ellie was projecting. She was a master of reading people, and knew that the woman in front of her was trying to contain her—excitement? That was odd.

"Chuck and I were discussing his need for protection, as well as the pros and cons of having me pose as his girlfriend. For the record, while he's freaking out a bit at being a potential target, he was not happy with the idea of me putting myself in danger by spending time near him."

The gleam in Ellie's eyes grew brighter when Sarah had referred to Chuck as Chuck-rather than Mr. Bartowski or the protectee as Agent Butterfield and the other Secret Service agents had when speaking of Chuck. There was definite pride showing on Ellie's face when Sarah confided that Chuck didn't want her risking her own safety for his sake. As Sarah hopped in her Porsche to drive back to her hotel room, she was simultaneously relieved that things with Chuck's sister had smoothed over, and concerned that she had a hard time reading the woman.


	7. Chapter 7

Ch 7 The Philly Philly

A/N: In my effort to avoid angst, I apparently stumbled face first into fluff. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. In canon, Chuck and Sarah always seemed to follow the rule of one step forward, two steps back. To avoid angst, this is more of a one step forward and one step back-or maybe just half a step back.

I'm still in the process of rewriting future sections of the story as I mucked about so much that I had Sarah disclosing her CIA past in two separate scenes. I wrote much of this late at night on a notepad kept on the nightstand, so when I realized that I needed to expand a section, I would write out more. This frequently resulted in having sections that I really liked, but that really didn't work together. The end result is a bit more Frankenstein than I would prefer, but hopefully it works out. It is looking like this will be 13 chapters plus an epilogue (assuming I ever get done rewriting so that I can put in the epilogue- or at least more than the one paragraph written so far that really needs a before and after explanation).

* * *

The following morning presented the opportunity for the public introduction of the new girlfriend of Charles Bartowski. As they had made their way back from Jessop's to the campaign headquarters, Sarah had read Chuck in on her cover story: Sarah Walker had known Chuck Bartowski back in California through a mutual friend from Stanford. The two had met in passing a few times over the years and she had learned about his heroism sweeping him up into presidential politics. She had traveled to the east coast in order to meet up with family and learned of the upcoming debate. While offering to volunteer for the campaign, Chuck had happened along and recognized Sarah. Without the distraction of having their mutual friend around, the two had realized the connection between them and had started dating, exclusively.

Chuck could easily imagine having met Sarah through his old roommate/fraternity brother Bryce. Bryce always did know all the great girls- the problem was that he also wound up being the one to date all of them. It was such a credible story that Chuck had to remind himself that it was just a cover- and the realization was deeply depressing. Ever since the debacle with Jill, Chuck hadn't dated. Truth be told he not only wasn't interested in dating, he had kept himself so occupied that he never even considered dating.

Sarah was able to arrange with the Secret Service to use her Porsche during the operation. She was looking forward to the upcoming drive into Philadelphia, although what she really wanted to do was to strap Chuck into the passenger seat of her 911 as they made their way up the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to Napa with the top down. _Focus Walker. Mission. Philadelphia. Breakfast fundraiser, not a quaint bed & breakfast in Napa with visits to a nearby vineyard with its own spa._

"Um, Sarah? Why did you just program Napa into the SatNav? We're expected in Philadelphia and it would be pretty tough to make the breakfast with a detour like that. Not that I couldn't use a little downtime, and a visit to California would be-as Devon likes to say- awesome."

"Sorry. I got distracted thinking about…well, never mind that. I've got the address here. We've got plenty of time to make it up to Philadelphia. No worries."

With Sarah behind the wheel, the early morning trip into Philadelphia was quick. The breakfast fundraiser was an important opportunity for Chuck to meet with the major Democratic contributors in the area. Chuck wasn't quite sure how long the trip had lasted as he had quickly discovered that it was far more tempting to watch Sarah as she drove instead of checking his watch or even looking out of the window.

Two days earlier, he had looked forward to the drive as a way to see the area up close, as opposed to flying overhead in an airliner. Today, he didn't mind not seeing a bit of the scenery. Although, the secondary reason for not looking out of the windshield was the fact that Sarah was rather terrifying driver. She was highly skilled, and was clearly enjoying the drive. But the high speeds and aggressive tactics were not what Chuck was used to when driving himself around Burbank in his Yaris. A bonus was that it gave him an excuse to watch Sarah that didn't seem quite as stalker-ish as finding watching her to be relaxing.

Before he knew it, they had gone from New Castle onto I95, crossed quickly into Pennsylvania. Sarah exited (at high speed) from I95 to the Schuylkill Expressway before arriving at one of the Boathouse Row rowing clubs on Kelly Drive located in the early morning shadows of the Art Museum. As Sarah pulled the car to a stop outside of the boathouse hosting the breakfast fundraiser, she marveled at the natural beauty of the location. "It is so calm and peaceful here. It's hard to believe that we're tucked away in the heart of one of the biggest cities in the country, surrounded by nearly six million people."

Chuck took a moment to enjoy the natural beauty of the scene, noting how the bike/jogging path wove through the trees as it tracked the river heading upstream. A woman was rowing a single scull past them on the river, the oars silent as they slid in and out of the water, powering her upstream in defiance of the swift current.

Turning back to Chuck, she commented, "So, the plan is for me to pose as your girlfriend, just to be near your side as you mix and mingle. I'll just stay quiet and out of the way, but be on hand in order to be able to stop any threat directed towards you."

Chuck shot Sarah a bemused look, "Seen but not heard? You do realize that this is the 21st century? Girlfriends are permitted to have their own opinions. Wives too from what I hear."

Sarah bit down on her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud. "What if my opinion differs from yours?" She shot back.

"Good," Chuck said earnestly, the humor gone from his expression. "By defending our own opinions, we get to see if they are really the right ones. If no one challenges our opinions, how are we to be stopped from making mistakes?"

"Challenging opinions isn't exactly encouraged in my line of work," Sarah replied simply.

"Your boss is threatened by having his opinions challenged by his best agent?" Chuck asked, shocked and decidedly less than impressed with what he was learning about the CIA Director. Then again, if he won, the DCI serves at the pleasure of the President… "But what is to stop your boss from making a big mistake if his opinion is wrong or not fully formed?"

"Nothing, Chuck," Sarah somberly replied. "Nothing at all."

As they approached the front door to the boathouse hosting the fundraiser, Chuck reached out to catch Sarah's hand. "Sarah, before we head in," Chuck started before pausing as if to bolster his courage, "seeing as how we are telling everyone that you are my girlfriend, I thought it would be appropriate for you to wear this." He reached into a backpack he had stowed at his feet in the car and pulled out a blue velvet jewelry bag. Gently tugging on the drawstrings, Chuck reached inside and removed a silver charm bracelet. Sarah was so surprised by the gesture that before she had even processed what was going on, he had reached out and clasped it around her wrist. From the weight, Sarah could tell that it was solid silver. A few charms dangled down, glistening in the early morning sunshine.

Sarah instinctively knew that this wasn't some trinket that Chuck just had lying around. This was important, a significant gift that clearly had a backstory. She also knew that Chuck wasn't trying to use the jewelry to lay claim to her. This wasn't "you are mine". This was "you are special". This was also not coming off of her wrist –or at least not anytime soon.

The attendees were the scions of Main Line families, blue bloods of the party tracking their heritage back to colonial days. While Chuck was grateful for their attendance and support, he was certain that many of the power brokers were there only to hedge their bets and were also actively supporting the Bartlett campaign.

Sarah was a natural, working the crowd as he introduced her around. She seemed to know the background of each donor present. She was able to effortlessly link a policy of Chuck's campaign to an interest of each donor. Chuck quickly recognized that Sarah had not only studied up on each attendee to the fundraiser, but was also incredibly well versed on his own policy positions. It was not only impressive to watch, but also confusing at it meant that (a) she had been studying hard well before last night's cover proposal, and (b) the interaction with the donors was far more than her cover called for, and (c) it was far more than she had just said she was going to have before their discussion on opinions.

Thinking back to Agent Butterfield's proposal, the intimation was that Sarah would essentially portray arm candy. Staying close, but in the background in order to assess any potential threat. Yet here she was, doing more to ingratiate Chuck with the donors than he was able to do himself. He was grateful, and-truth be told-he was also more than a little turned on by the obvious intelligence she wielded. He smirked, thinking back to Sarah's claim that she would be seen but not heard. She was being heard, and she was definitely being seen. More than one donor had joked with Chuck about his inability to tear his eyes away from his beautiful date.

Chuck knew that he needed to get his head in the game. This was a breakfast fundraiser with some of the biggest names in the Democratic party. He needed to be dialed in on his discussions on how to use existing and emerging technologies to re-galvanize American industry, how to adjust the education system in order to prepare the next generation to be competitive in the global marketplace, while having a plan for increasing employment among the existing workforce to adapt to the current changes and changes yet to come.

But it was hard drum up his usual enthusiasm for the revolutionary potential for 3D printers across every business spectrum. The reason for his distraction was the beautiful yet enigmatic CIA turned temporary Secret Service agent who effortlessly managed to stay in close proximity to him, all the while enchanting the hell out of the political power brokers who were practically fawning over her. He had been eavesdropping on her conversations whenever possible.

 _Holy cow, was she good_. She was discussing his ideas for economic revitalization way more articulately that he just had, while crediting him for the proposals. She seemed to know his campaign platform better than he did. Most of the donors were blown away by her intelligence and confidence. An (un)select few had been patronizing and dismissive, but she never lost her cool. Chuck noticed that the longer she spoke, the more the other members of the group would abandon their sexist and boorish colleagues as she calmly recited facts, figures and logical arguments in contrast to their drivel.

If they only knew the truth, they would be even more amazed at the incredible woman before them. Chuck had barely scratched the surface of her past the night before, but knew without a doubt that she had faced situations that would make every other person in the room flee in terror. Well, maybe not every person in the room. In the group Chuck was currently speaking with, there was an investment banker who had served in the military with multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chuck had the distinct impression that nothing was taking place in the room that the soldier-turned-banker missed. He was also the only other man in the room to be appraising Sarah rather than ogling her.

Chuck also noted how Sarah always managed to place herself between him and the investment banker, ever vigilant to any potential threat. When the banker took a step to his left, Sarah shifted slightly to her right. With a brief nod and a grin that Chuck doubted anyone else even saw, the banker leaned forward and quietly said to Sarah, "Take good care of our boy here. He's got a lot of good ideas, and the country could do far worse." The banker then walked over the buffet to grab a bite to eat as the fundraiser wound down.

Before he realized it, Sarah was at his side, winding her left arm through the crook in his right arm. "So Mr. Bartwoski, what's next on your agenda?"

"Why do I suspect that you know my agenda better than I do? Or that you've likely read the history of every person who was here this morning or will be at the Constitution Center?" Chuck's grin was so broad that it bordered on goofy, taking any potential sting out of his words.

Sarah's response was a quick grin and a hip bump as she steered him out of the room, with Chuck shaking hands along the way.

* * *

Once the breakfast fundraiser was done, Sarah once again put the Porsche through its paces as they once again sped along Kelly Drive, looping around downtown as much as possible to avoid the center city congestion as they made their way across town to the National Constitution Center. Once they hit the cobblestone streets of the historical district, she had to ease up on the speed.

"So you are doing a photoshoot at the Constitution Center? I've seen most of your ads," Sarah stated factually, but with a questioning expression on her face. Chuck was slightly distracted by the realization that she had reviewed most (probably all) of his ads-again, not something that the cover called for. "Most of the time that there is an image of you, it's just a stock head shot in the background. Was the trip to the Constitution Center a chance for a photo op of you at a patriotic venue, or just because you are a history geek?"

"Nerd actually," Chuck stated. "We prefer nerd to geek. Besides, c'mon Sarah! Think about it. A couple of hundred years ago the Founding Fathers walked these same streets. Betsy Ross sewed the first flag right around the corner. This place is amazing!"

"Somehow I doubt they walked these same streets. After all, asphalt hadn't been invented in the 1700s. There's another reason for this trip, isn't there?" Chuck flushed as he tried to avoid eye contact with Sarah, which was difficult as he really didn't want to stop looking at her- especially when she was tossing around bits of historical trivia like that. She, however, stared him down, curious to see what was behind this trip. "Why the Constitution Center for the photoshoot?"

"Well, ah…you see…," Chuck stammered slightly as he scrambled to come up with an explanation while noticeably avoiding eye contact. "The opportunity to, you know…highlight a great public resource while-"

"Oh my god," Sarah laughed out, turning her head to stare at him with narrowed eyes-while also not showing any sign of slowing down or difficulty in negotiating the narrow side streets. Chuck was amazed at her ability to keep the car dead center in the lane while she looked directly at him. "You are totally using this 'photo op' as an excuse to check out the National Constitution Center. Is there even a photographer arranged? How did you manage to arrange for the private tour anyway? Not that I'm complaining. It would be a security nightmare otherwise, but this way it just gets to be the two of us on a da…Photo-op. On a photo-op." Chuck finally looked up to see a slight pink tinge to Sarah's cheeks. _The two of us on a photo op? That's a weird way of describing it. Great work Agent Walker,_ Sarah chastised herself _._ Suddenly the street ahead seemed far more fascinating to Sarah as she now avoided eye contact with Chuck.

Realizing, belatedly, that he'd once again been staring at Sarah, Chuck shook his head to answer the question Sarah asked instead of wondering about the blush or what she might have also said. "No, it's…I…uh, so it turns out that Morgan knows a guy…" Chuck saw Sarah arch her right eyebrow at the mention of his best friend. _Gah, is there anything that she does that isn't incredibly sexy and cool?_ "Hey, I saw that. No faith in my bearded little buddy? It turns out that one of his gamer buddies is a janitor there. But the administrators wound up being super cool and welcoming. Plus, the tour will let out right in time to…crap, I mean…um, to…"

Sarah was momentarily confused as to why Chuck was suddenly looking embarrassed yet again. She did a mental run down of the things to do in Philadelphia that would be perfect to do at midday on a Monday: Art Museum (or _for Chuck at least_ the Rocky steps)? _No, that's not a time specific activity, and it would have been walking distance from the breakfast meeting instead of driving across town and then right back again_. Franklin Institute? _Definitely nerdy enough for my Chuck, but again, not time specific_. Rodin Museum? _I would love it, but that doesn't really strike me as Chuck's kind of scene_. Zoo? _Again, not really a time specific activity. Unless…_

"No," she murmured while staring at Chuck and smiling slightly. "You wouldn't."

"What?" Chuck asked while trying, and failing miserably, to look innocent.

"Did you seriously arrange for a breakfast fundraiser so that you could be done in time to do your history geek out, and then be done with the tour of the Constitution Center in time to get cheesesteaks for lunch?"

 _Damn, this woman was flat out brilliant_. "You forgot to include the soft pretzels," Chuck said with an unrepentant grin. "Philly is famous for them too. I mean, c'mon Sarah! We're in Philadelphia, it's almost, kinda sorta lunchtime. We have to get cheesesteaks. It is our patriotic duty."

"Oh my god, don't tell me that's the reason why you hardly ate anything at the breakfast meeting? You were planning on cheesesteaks! This early in the day?"

"But Sarah, it's Philly. They're cheesesteaks. It would be un-American of me not to at least try one."

"Sure, we'll go with that. Un-American. Patriotic duty even. It's got nothing to do with that appetite of yours, does it?" At least the last line was delivered with a smile as they made their way to the employee entrance of the Constitution Center so that Chuck could do the tour in safety and privacy. Sarah evidently determined that, like the night before, walking arm in arm with Chuck would best project the image of the cover couple. However, Chuck also noted that, like the night before, her right hand was always kept free.

Sarah tried (and failed miserably) to keep a matching grin off of her own face at Chuck's childlike excitement as they entered the building. _He looks pretty damned adorable-again_. She briefly wondered how Ellie had ever managed to say no to Chuck growing up.

The Director for the Center herself met the two of them to lead the private tour for Chuck and his "girlfriend". Chuck's natural warmth and sunny personality quickly won over the staff-many of whom were locals. While Philadelphia can be a notoriously tough town, the locals saw how impressed Chuck truly was with the Center and noted his amazement with the area in general. He was able to hold his own while talking about Philadelphia, from the Revolutionary War days to the Industrial Revolution and its shipyards role in World War II. Chuck's enthusiasm was off the charts when a guide mentioned the significance of the local music scene from the 1950s to the punk era in the 1970s.

Everyone at the Center realized that Chuck was the real deal. Plenty of politicians and celebrities had showed up for a photo op and skipped the tour. Chuck and Sarah showed up for the tour and he tried to skip the photo op. The marketing director for the Center had tipped off a couple of local reporters, who got some candid shots of Chuck's fascination with the facility. While Chuck might be a long shot to win the presidency, the local press would run a story on the candidate being at the Center, which would lead to good PR.

Chuck went from display to display, soaking in all of the information like a sponge. At one point he turned to Sarah, "This is incredible. Did you know that Alexander Hamilton was just 21 years old in 1776? It's amazing that a lot of the Founding Fathers were younger than we are when they were drawing up the Declaration of Independence."

"You calling me old Bartowski?" Sarah replied with an arched eyebrow.

"No, ah, no! Not old. I wasn't… I didn't. What I meant to say was, just that…" Chuck stammered, trying to figure a way out of a hole he hadn't seen coming.

Sarah started laughing, "Relax Chuck. I'm teasing. But that was quite eloquent for a future leader of our nation." She not only loved teasing him, she loved the fact that he was impressed by the teasing rather than threatened or offended by what she said. _Too bad your old fraternity brother couldn't have been more like that. But then again, if he had, I might not be here now_. _Nope, it's a good thing that Bryce never could recognize my sense of humor. A very good thing indeed_.

"That's me. An articulate schnook," Chuck replied, looking more relieved than embarrassed. His eloquence was completely ruined when Sarah led him over to a display about Benjamin Franklin, without any hesitation reaching out with her left hand to take his hand and lead him across the hall. His focus was completely lost when she showed no intention of letting go of his hand once there. What was more confusing was that it appeared to have been an unconscious act on her part, as though walking hand in hand with him was a normal everyday occurrence.

Chuck couldn't figure out if this was a signal that Sarah really liked him, or if he had reverted to an awkward 13 year old version of himself trying to ascribe a girls intent by the slightest action or word. He winced as he recalled a particular incident in the eleventh grade when his skill at figuring out girls failed him in an epically spectacular fashion. Still, he wasn't sure if this was a real relationship, or if it was a fling under the cover of a cover. For the life of him, he didn't know how to broach that particular topic of conversation, so he resolved to take whatever he could get in terms of spending time with Sarah Walker.

Chuck was so animated as they walked through the exhibit, his eyes so alive with excitement. Sarah was perfectly happy to stand there and just listen to him talk. _So open, so animated. So much the opposite from me_. And with that particular thought came the realization that Chuck Bartowski was meant for a much different woman than her. She pasted a well-rehearsed fake smile on her face to keep Chuck from realizing the melancholy and gut wrenching sadness that momentarily overwhelmed her. They were good in the here and now, but how could she be with him in the future? Between her bloody past and her CIA career, how could they have anything resembling a normal relationship.

As they were nearing the end of the tour, Chuck's stomach let out a loud rumble, causing him to blush with embarrassment, and the Director to chuckle. Chuck told the Director of their plans to get their first Philly cheesesteaks.

"But Chuck, you can get cheesesteaks anywhere in the country," Sarah mentioned as they headed to her car.

When she saw the look of complete horror, she didn't know which she wanted to do more- laugh at how silly he was, or figure out just what the big deal was. Then she was the one to feel stunned, as Sarah realized that she had laughed more in the last twelve hours than she had in the past twelve months.

"Sarah, comparing a cheesesteak from Philly with a cheesesteak from anywhere else is like comparing an In and Out burger with a burger from anywhere else."

Chuck, to his utter amazement, was met with a blank stare.

"An In and Out burger? Seriously? You…Oh, my god. You. Never. Had. An. In. And. Out. Burger?" Chuck was looking at her like she had grown a second head as they headed out to the parking lot to get back into her car.

"Oh, padawan. You have so much to learn," Chuck said as he unconsciously draped an arm over her shoulders. He was trying to look stern while clearly not remotely serious. "Well, we need to fix that as soon as…as soon as…" Chuck trailed off, disquieted at the thought of them not being together in LA to share a burger. _This is just a cover date. Just good for the cover. "_ When this Cruz guy is caught, the Secret Service will send you back to the CIA, won't they? The CIA will then send you out into the world on some glamorous, super-secret mission. Right?" Sarah was quiet. To Chuck the woman was like the Sphinx. He had no idea what was running through her head. Suddenly Chuck looked just as depressed as she felt.

"Mmhmm. That's the plan," Sarah mumbled, wishing that she could steer the conversation back to where they had been laughing and teasing each other. Still feeling depressed at her conclusion that she was too different from Chuck to really be a couple, her mask slipped just enough to show him how much she disliked the idea of shipping out for another mission at Director Graham's behest. _Maybe it's time for a career change_ , the little voice in the back of her head whispered.

"Well, on the upside, Cruz hasn't been caught yet," Chuck responded, clearly trying to steer the conversation away from the topic that was so unwelcome to them both.

Sarah, deeply grateful at Chuck's consideration, decided to help him along, "Chuck, something is seriously wrong if you are taking as a positive the fact that an internationally known assassin is still after you. You are far and away the most glass-half full guy I've ever met."

"You know, if you really think about it, the glass is always full. I mean, half is liquid and half is air. But in reality, the glass could only be half full in a vacuum." Chuck tried not to face palm at his nerding out like that. "I'm sorry. I used to think that was such a cool concept, although it totally defeats the euphemism. But back at Stanford I said it to Jill, uh, my um, my ex, and she thought it wasn't anywhere near as funny as I did." _C'mon, Chuck. You know what Ellie always says about not bringing up ex-girlfriends. Although that rule is for women you are actually dating, and for Sarah this is just a cover. Hmm, Sarah doesn't seem to find that concept that funny either_.

Sarah reflected on Chuck's relationship struggles, and felt a kinship with him in that regard. His file did not reflect any notable relationships back in high school. Her history then wasn't any better, in fact it was lightly worse. She had started high school with a bad complexion and a worse perm job, with braces just to add the cherry on top. The end result had placed her on the bottom rung of the social ladder. Teasing about her lack of a father had resulted in a suspension when her confrontation with Heather Chandler had ended with the cheerleader sporting a broken nose and concussion.

When the principal later questioned Sarah about the fight, she had merely shrugged and said, "Heather was always saying that she wanted her nose worked on. Now she had the perfect excuse." The principal, well aware of Chandler's pretentious attitude, had cracked up. Sarah was suspended the rest of the day, and was ordered to spend an hour a week as an unpaid assistant to one of the teachers. Neither Heather Chandler, nor her influential parents, had realized that the teacher selected happened to be Sarah's favorite in the foreign language department.

Sarah's punishment by the school was a non-punishment. But her fighting with Heather was social suicide. Sarah had spent the rest of her time in high school avoiding confrontations by forcing herself to stay cool no matter how she was provoked. In response, Heather had labeled her the Ice Queen, a title that Sarah conversely took great pride in.

Chuck was more successful in college, while Sarah matriculated from CIA sanctioned courses under a dozen different names which was not conducive for establishing a relationship. Of course his college relationship wound up being with that heartless bitch ( _ok, the file didn't put it that way, but can't theses analysts read between the lines? C'mon people!_ ) aka Jill Roberts. With success like that, she'd take loneliness any day. Chuck had cratered emotionally afterwards, although no one could fault him for that.

As for Sarah, the only thing resembling a relationship was what she shared with her former partner, Bryce Larkin- at best a pale imitation of a relationship. At first it had merely been a hook up following the first Mr. and Mrs. Anderson mission, one in which they had barely escaped with their lives. The combination of mutual attraction and adrenaline had resulted in some wild sex in their hotel room. The second time had a near duplicate ending, both with the mission and in the hotel room. Near death followed by hollow passion. Their physical relationship became a talisman of sorts, a ritual to protect them from harm.

They had even tried a vacation together away from the missions. An ill-fated trip to Cabo. Neither had ever used the term boyfriend or girlfriend. They had never tried pet names with each other. Neither discussed family or friends. They had their jobs and sex. Nothing more, nothing less. Cabo had been nice. Warm sun, beautiful beaches for which she still had fond memories. But they both realized that their relationship would never go beyond the Andersons.

Not long after Cabo, Bryce had mentioned a solo mission with some new technology, and had completely disappeared from her life. The lack of feeling that resulted from his disappearance was the final bit of proof that their relationship truly had been image over substance. Sarah laughed quietly to herself. She and Chuck could actually debate the question of whether it is better to have loved and lost or never to have loved at all. After all, her only remotely real relationship had no love. His only relationship had love, at least on his side, yet had devastated him.

She decided to leave that debate to the philosophers. She had a job to do. Protect Chuck Bartowski. Could she do her job and develop a relationship with the protectee? CIA rules forbid asset/handler relationships. But she wasn't operating under the CIA on this mission. Ron Butterfield likely wouldn't be a big fan any relationship either, but her position with the Secret Service was likely a one-time event.

* * *

Chuck practically dragged Sarah into Jim's Steaks on South Street. The black and white checkered tiles gave the restaurant a 50's flair, while the walls were covered with decades of photos of athletes, musicians and celebrities who had eaten there. As it was only 11:30, they didn't have to wait in line or have to worry about getting a table at the small upstairs eating area. As they approached the counter, one of the cooks came over with his white apron and white t-shirt, "What can I getcha?"

Chuck was practically drooling from the smell of sizzling steak and grilled onions already cooking on the griddle. "Ok," Chuck started "we are total newbies. Neither Sarah or I have gotten a proper Philly cheesesteak before. I was told that you guys are the best, so give me whatever you think is the best introduction to a Philly cheesesteak. You're our guy. You tell us what to get."

The cook's eyebrows raised slightly, and he was clearly impressed with Chuck deferring to him for such an important decision. "First timers, huh? Well, you're at the right place. Don't let nobody tell you different. You want the best steak, you keep it simple. You get your steak, grilled onions, top it with some provolone cheese. Then you just toss in some salt and pepper, a good amount of ketchup and you are good to go. None of that Cheeze Whiz. Whiz is for the tourists. No offense. And don't even think about broccoli rabe. Howya supposed to taste the Amoroso rolls or the steak with that crap on it, I ask ya?"

"No broccoli," Chuck solemnly nodded. "Got it."

"You're all right buddy. You and your old lady here wait right over there and I'll whip you kids up the best steaks you'll ever eat. Vito's taking care of you." And with that, the cook walked over to the grill, sprayed down some peanut oil, tossed on some fresh onions and shaved ribeye and started chopping away with long handled spatulas.

Chuck and Sarah moved down the counter to pay for their steaks. Shortly after they paid and got their drinks, Vito came over with their steaks in hand. "You kids enjoy these. Trust me, these will be the best steaks you ever have or ever will eat. Enjoy."

With that, Chuck and Sarah made their way up to the second floor to grab a table for two. There were a couple of other patrons there, but most of the tables were available given the early lunch hour. Grabbing a table by the window, Chuck set to unwrapping the sandwiches from their paper, while Sarah grabbed fistfuls of napkins. Without even talking about it, or noticing for that matter, the two operated in synchrony.

"Oh my god, this cheesesteak is so good! Like life changing good. Like first time eating jambalaya in New Orleans good. Like..." Chuck was gushing, completely unaware of the dab of ketchup on the side of his chin.

Reaching across the table to swipe a thumb over the spot of ketchup, Sarah replied, "I get it already. But will all that grease it looks more life ending than life changing." She looked aghast at the puddle of grease that had dripped out of the bottom of the steak sandwich the moment Chuck had bitten into it.

"Oh no. No, no, no. You are not missing out on this culinary experience. No ma'am. Vito made these steaks especially for us. You wouldn't want to hurt his feelings," Chuck looked at her with an expression of pretend disappointment.

"Well ok, but don't expect me to kiss you later after we've had all those grilled onions."

 _Kissing again? Where the hell did that come from Walker? Okay, so maybe I've thought about kissing him again. Some. Ok, a lot. Oh, look. I think I broke him_.

Sarah leaned forward, laughing out loud at Chuck's expression. Evidently their kisses the night before had left as big of an impression on Chuck as they had on her. As her laughter shifted into giggles, Chuck came out of his stupor and beamed that Bartowski smile at her. She couldn't help but smile back. They were so caught up in their little bubble, that Sarah never spotted the man staring at them through the lens.

Their lunch a Jim's Steaks had lasted far longer than either had realized. At the time, Sarah had noted the tables around them filling up with the lunch crowd (including quite a lot of tourists), and emptying again. However, she hadn't thought twice about it as none of the people in the small upstairs seating area could have been Javier Cruz. She had relaxed and enjoyed her meal with the unparalleled company. Despite, or possibly because of, the crunch of people filling every last spot in the steak shop, their table for two tucked away by the window had taken on an enhanced sense of intimacy.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 The Fallout

A/N: Thank you once again for the reviews and PMs. I haven't gotten to respond recently as I've been tweaking the storyline so that I can start to write the epilogue (which hopefully will set the foundation for the second arc of this tale). I have received several reviews/PMs about cheesesteaks-one of which mentioned the infamous duo of steak shops Pats and Geno's, which are literally across the street from each other. Before getting married, I had taken my then girlfriend up to the greater Philadelphia area and met up with a childhood friend. I had told him that she had never had a proper Philly cheesesteak, so my friend set up a tour of seven steak shops back to back to back, etc (Pat's, Geno's, Jim's, Ishkabibbles, Honest John's, Delassandro's and Tony Luke's). After the first couple, we started splitting steaks. Needless to say, she got his stamp of approval.

As before, any italics indicate the thoughts of the most recent character referenced. I hope you enjoy this next installment.

* * *

Sarah and Chuck entered the Bartowski campaign headquarters laughing, both unable to think of a time they had had more fun than their adventure in Philadelphia. In the living room of the headquarters though, Chuck abruptly stopped laughing when he saw his best friend/business partner/campaign manager. Morgan's face showed a combination of pain and betrayal. Chuck was certain that something had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

"Charles Irving Bartowski," Morgan spoke in his most serious and aggrieved voice (which actually caused Chuck to relax somewhat as he immediately realized that the 'betrayal' would have been to Morgan alone), "how could you do this? This is so wrong. Just wrong, I tell you." Then with a flair for the dramatic that would have fit in on one of the telenovelas that Morgan's mother loved to watch, he thrust an arm out, pointing to the nearby computer monitor while looking in the opposite direction. The monitor in question was showing the home page for the Washington Post.

Chuck's face was the picture of surprise as he read the headline of the top news story "'Is the Bachelor President Off the Market, and Who Is the Future First Lady?' What is this? First of all, they know I'm not the President. And I'm certainly not off the market." Chuck missed the flash of hurt that flickered across Sarah's eyes so quick that it was there and gone as soon as it had appeared- but it was spotted, and noted, by Chuck's big sister.

"Please, Chuck. Eye on the ball here. Let's focus on the big picture, or at least the picture with this story!" Morgan continued in high theatrics. "How could you betray me like this? I blame this…this…this jezebel!"

Chuck started laughing, while Sarah merely looked confused at Morgan's erratic behavior. Chuck thought about the fact that Morgan was attempting, failing fortunately, to insult the CIA's top spy who was trained in over 200 ways to kill him. Chuck laughed all the harder when he thought of how fast the lion would turn to a mouse if Morgan only knew. "Jezebel, buddy? Seriously? Did we time warp back to the 1880s and no one told me? Is Doc Brown consulting with the campaign now? Did you build a flux capacitor in your free time and not tell me?"

Sarah was now thoroughly confused. She knew that Ellie and Awesome were both doctors, knew the name of Chuck's GP back in California, and knew the names of all of the campaign staff. There was no Brown, doctor or otherwise. And what in the hell was a flux capacitor? All the more confusing was the fact that no one else in the room looked in the least confused by Chuck's questions. She had to bite back a laugh when Morgan dramatically threw both hands in the air, exclaiming, "You think this is a joking matter?" Again he pointed to the monitor with the picture of Chuck and Sarah sharing a laugh at lunch. _Come to think of it, I need to get a copy of that picture. Did I really make Chuck that happy? I mean, I knew I was having a great time. If he ever learns what that grin does to me, I'm in big trouble. Oops, too late. Well, if he learns that the grin is my weakness, I'll be in even bigger trouble._

Her smile at Morgan's bizarre behavior quickly dimmed as she saw the look of horror come over Chuck's face. She quickly became worried. Just what had she done that was so wrong? The fundraiser went smoothly. The photoshoot, such as it was, went fine as well. Morgan didn't know enough of her backstory to find her that objectionable. After all, the previous night he had been pushing Chuck to accept Sarah's presence as his cover girlfriend (having to think of herself as a "cover" girlfriend made the bile rise up in the back of her throat). As far as Morgan knew, it was just a "cover" date.

"Buddy, I am so, so sorry," Chuck started before Morgan cut him off with a biting tone that shocked even Ellie.

"Well 'I am so, so sorry.' Sorry doesn't cut it buster. Chuck, you know how important it was for me to get to eat a real, true Philly cheesesteak. But no, you have to go with Vicky Vale here." Morgan snapped, waving dismissively towards Sarah. He then paused as he realized what he said- although it was clearly lost on Sarah as to just who Vicky Vale was and why Morgan was lumping her in with this Vicky person. "Ok, ok. Yes, she's Vicky Vale." _Still not clearing things up_. "But c'mon. Leaving me behind for your first cheesesteak? Does she even understand how monumental an event that was? Dude, that was just wrong." Morgan paused briefly while looking critically at Sarah. "Please tell me that she at least got a proper cheesesteak? None of that tourist crap Cheese Whiz? That would be so not awesome."

"Don't worry, Morgs. Vito hooked us up with some authentic cheesesteaks. No chicken, no whiz, just right."

"Aw man," Morgan let out a groan as he sank back down into an oversized plush chair, burying his head in his hands. "You had some dude named 'Vito' making your steaks?"

"I'll make it up to you Morgan, I swear."

"Make it up? Chuck we'd been talking about our first real Philly cheesesteaks since the debate site got selected. Months, man. How are you going to make up us trying out our first steaks together. This was an important milestone, and now it's gone," Morgan ended with a glare in Sarah's direction as he pouted with arms crossing his chest.

Sarah was about to comment on how it was just a lunch, something that is perfectly normal for a boyfriend and girlfriend… _cover, cover boyfriend and girlfriend_ to do. And when in Philly, newcomers are expected to partake in cheesesteaks. So it would have looked strange if she and Chuck had eaten anything else. She was just about to point out to Morgan the fact that there were literally dozens of restaurants that specialized in just cheesesteaks in the greater Philadelphia area. But before she could open her mouth to put Morgan in his place ( _Jezebel indeed!_ ), she felt a touch on her forearm and saw that Ellie had made her way to Sarah's side.

Ellie had entered the room once she heard Morgan start to complain to Chuck about the "food betrayal", keeping to herself how pleased she was that Morgan had been taken down a peg or two-especially as Sarah had not only done the taking down, but didn't even know at the time that she was doing it, which meant that Morgan wouldn't be able to hold a grudge. The headquarters had been buzzing about the press coverage over Chuck's new "girlfriend" with many of the single (and some not so single) ladies grumbling about the new competition for Chuck's attention. Ellie had seen the picture in the Post and thought that they not only made a truly adorable couple, but that any competition had already ended.

Ellie was about to tweak Morgan about Chuck's first cheesesteak being with Sarah, when she spotted the bracelet on Sarah's wrist and got so distracted that she collided with a staffer standing nearby. At the slight commotion, Chuck caught Ellie's eyes, which were widened in shock at recognizing the Bartowski family heirloom adorning Sarah's wrist. He quickly realized what had spooked Ellie so much, and knew that he needed to head things off at the pass before Ellie let Sarah know just how significant the gift of the purportedly "cover jewelry" actually was.

"I'm sorry for the bearded troll," Ellie whispered just loudly enough for Sarah to hear her. She was struggling to contain her excitement over the charm bracelet, but Sarah's attention was still focused on Morgan.

"Wasn't he the bearded gnome at the debate site?" Sarah whispered back just as quietly.

"After the movie" ( _Like I have a clue as to which movie?_ ) "trolls are a little more endearing, if still short and more than a bit strange. But this right here," Ellie said while pointing back and forth between Chuck and Morgan, "is their thing. I had hoped that Chuck would outgrow it in seventh grade. Then eighth grade. Then before high school graduation, before college graduation, after starting Orion Tech. Unfortunately, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that those two revert to children when it comes to food. I don't think it will ever change. Morgan's lashing out because he's hurt that Chuck tried a major new food experience with someone other than him. He'll get over it. Oh, he'll pout and whine for a good while first, but he'll get over it eventually. It helps if we can distract him with other food."

It wound up being Sarah who found the solution. She ordered a pizza from a local hotspot that Dave at S&T in Langley during her pre-mission prep had said she "had" to try -plus she offered an offensively large tip if it could be delivered in under half an hour. When the pizza was delivered, Morgan was instantly mollified ("Marrying mild cheddar, provolone and mozzarella cheese on a pizza? Pure genius! How did I never think of this?"). Chuck then promised Morgan an entire tour of the top cheesesteak joints in Philly before they left, which resulted in Ellie promising Chuck that she would line up a visit with the top cardiothoracic surgeon (in other words Devon) afterwards in order to make sure his arteries weren't all completely clogged from that much grease. Chuck gave Sarah a knee buckling smile when the food arrived and the stormy waters were calmed.

"You, Sarah Walker," Chuck reverently stated while unconsciously reaching out to take hold of her hand, "are one incredible lady."

Sarah responded with a brilliant smile and eyes shining with happiness at Chuck's praise. She needed a moment to gather her wits, as the feeling of Chuck's hand in her was sending tingles up her arm. Just as she was about to reply, Ron Butterfield approached. "Agent Walker, may I have a word?"

While Agent Butterfield didn't look upset, his concern was clearly evident. Sarah instantly stopped thinking about the natural feel of Chuck's hand in hers, and started thinking about Javier Cruz. With a tinge of disappointment, she pulled her hand from Chuck's, instantly noting the absence of warmth. "If Morgan is happy now, wait until he tries the second pizza. It's a stuffed pizza called the Grande, with more cheese on top," she mentioned to Chuck as she gathered her belongings to go talk with the AIC.

Morgan was instantly in the doorway. Sarah was more than a little impressed with how quickly and quietly he had moved. "Grande? A stuffed pizza? Chuck, dude, we have to try this!"

"There's also a third pizza- a cheesesteak pizza. White pizza with shaved ribeye and grilled onions. It can be just like you guys sharing a cheesesteak together. I mean, where else in the country can you find an authentic Philly cheesesteak topping for a pizza?" Sarah called over her shoulder to Morgan, hoping that he would accept her peace offering. After all, if he was that important to Chuck, it was important to her to get along with the eccentric bearded man-boy.

Chuck and Morgan practically tripped over their feet as they sprinted to the two pizza boxes sitting near the door. With a laugh, Sarah shot Chuck another grin, this one a bit melancholy, and headed over to the next room where Ron Butterfield had taken a seat. She was oblivious to the look of total adoration that Chuck had sent back her way.

* * *

Sarah took a seat near Agent Butterfield as he sat at a small sofa in the small study, staring at his Service issued laptop. She waited for him to start the conversation. She wasn't sure what the issue was, and didn't want to go blundering around to find out where his concern lay. Technically, her status was somewhat in limbo between the Secret Service and the CIA. However, Agent Butterfield was in charge of the protection detail, and if he felt that she was going to be ineffective due to being compromised, she was sure he would ship her back to Langley. Plus, she already respected the veteran agent, respected the way he ran his op, and didn't want to see him disappointed in her.

She was apprehensive about the upcoming conversation. Had she been too convincing in the "cover" girlfriend role? Agent Butterfield was one of the top Secret Service agents out there. He was trained to notice everything. Had he already decided that she was compromised? Which she totally was, if she was being honest with herself. And while Sarah was highly skilled at deceiving everyone around her, she had always made it a point to be honest with herself.

"Agent Walker," Ron started, while looking grave, "I owe you an apology. When I had the idea of installing you as Mr. Bartowski's cover girlfriend, I was focused on the tactical advantage and didn't stop to consider social media."

Sarah was officially confused now. He wasn't upset that she and Chuck were too believable as a couple? What did social media have to do with this?

"The photograph of the two of you having lunch today is trending nationally, even getting some traction abroad. I expect that Director Graham will be rather upset at his top covert agent being cast in such a public light."

The realization that Butterfield wasn't going to reassign her for being compromised with the protectee was a huge relief. Almost as big was the realization that the conversation wasn't some new details about the threat from Cruz. Her third reaction, and pretty far down the reaction foodchain at that, was surprise at not having thought about the impact to her CIA career from that photograph when she and Chuck had first entered the room. Instead, she had been focused on how to patch up the spat that Morgan had with Chuck over her. Although there had also been a part of her that had been really taken with how cute she and Chuck were as a couple- _looked, looked as a couple. Cover couple._

"I must say," Ron Butterfield continued with a ghost of a smile towards Sarah. "From that photo the two of you make a very believable couple." With a slight nod, he got up and walked back out of the room.

Sarah was rooted on the spot. She thought about the implication of the couple comment, as well as the implications of the picture of her and Chuck on her career as a covert agent. Between the Ryker debacle, the growing distrust of Graham, and her now public image, she thought for the second time that day that maybe it was time to reach out to Zondra.

* * *

"That Washington Post story about your new mystery girlfriend from the fundraiser breakfast and your cheesesteak lunch, dude" Morgan said as they sprawled on the couch in the living room after inhaling a ridiculous amount of pizza "is trending on Twitter already." The bribery with food had already once again made Morgan a huge fan of Sarah.

"Doesn't anyone but me realize that she is way out of my league?" Chuck asked with an arm thrown across his eyes.

"Who's out of whose league Chuck?" Sarah asked with a grin, knowing perfectly well what he had been talking about. She hadn't been using spycraft to silently slip into the room, but Chuck and Morgan were sluggish from overeating, and focused on their own conversation. Neither had heard her enter the room, so she figured she would surprise Chuck-only she had been surprised at his self-depricating statement. _For a smart guy, you've got that one completely backwards_.

"Gah! How do you sneak up like that? I never heard you coming!"

"Spy remember?" Sarah whispered in his ear, causing Chuck to shiver and his brain to reboot. Morgan was oblivious to the exchange.

"Tell me when some real news outlet has the story, not some liberal, hippie loving propaganda rag," Casey said from Chuck's other side.

"Gah!" Chuck yelled out again as he jumped slightly. "Not you too. Seriously, how does someone as big as you move that quietly?"

Casey merely grunted in reply. It didn't take a genius to figure out the contempt Casey felt towards anyone who wasn't combat ready at all times. Sarah felt her protectiveness towards Chuck skyrocket, even though Casey wasn't posing a threat to Chuck. It didn't mean that she appreciated anyone putting Chuck down. Without realizing it, Sarah began to gauge the best way to win a fight against Casey if the need should arise.

"What would you suggest we read?" Chuck asked turning to face the surly NSA agent.

"The Federalist is geared towards good, honest, Reagan-Republicans. Everyone else is just un-American," Casey concluded with a sneer.

"First of all Major Casey, you do realize that I'm campaigning for the nomination for the Democratic Party? And second, wouldn't a one party system be inherently un-American? Kind of like Soviet Russia or China?"

Casey stood still staring at Chuck, while a growling noise seemed to emanate from his chest.

"Uh, Chuck, maybe it's a good idea not to antagonize a heavily armed NSA agent. I'm familiar with some of his work, and he's quite good at killing," Sarah recommended quietly.

"What? He's going to make it look like I 'accidentally' slipped and fell on a kitchen knife 26 times?" Chuck laughed at his own joke.

Sarah, however, just tilted her head to one side and widened her eyes. "You're totally not joking, are you?" Chuck asked, sounding more nervous than he was a moment earlier.

"I've heard of crazier explanations that passed muster. Besides, even if he doesn't get away with it, that's not exactly going to bring you back from the dead, now is it?"

"Point," Chuck acknowledged with a head nod. "Let the wookie win. Got it." Once again, Sarah was completely lost to the pop culture reference.

"C'mon Walker," Casey grumbled out. "We've got a briefing with Ron in five. We're supposed to play nice, share our intel." Without pausing to see if she was following, Casey stormed out of the room.

* * *

When Sarah headed back to her hotel room in order to draft up her report on the breakfast fundraiser and the photoshoot (and the cheesesteak lunch, given the fact that the CIA was now aware of it thanks to the Post), Chuck took advantage of the relative privacy to pull Ellie into a quiet corner. He knew that he had to address the fact that his cover girlfriend was walking around with their mom's charm bracelet- the last connection they had to their long lost mother.

"Hey, sis! Ok, now I need for you to not freak out. I know that you saw Sarah with mom's bracelet. It just seemed like something a 'girlfriend' of mine would wear if I were serious about her. No need to read anything more into it."

"No need to read anything into it? Seriously Chuck," Chuck cringed at that, knowing that he'd really stepped in it now. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you just gave that to Agent Walker as a 'cover'. Talk to me Chuck. Do you really like this woman, or is this some kind of seriously misguided way of you saying thank you to her for her risking her life as your secret bodyguard?"

Chuck found it odd to hear of Sarah referred to as Agent Walker by his sister. It just seemed impersonal. It dawned on him that he was already thinking of her and referring to her as Sarah exclusively. Having known her for all of twenty-four hours, it already felt like she was a natural part of his close circle of family and friends.

"El, if I wanted to thank her for risking her life, I wouldn't have used mom's bracelet. But before you get all worked up and start printing wedding invitations or something, regardless of how much I like her, she's not that into me. I mean, I'm just a computer programmer who fell into a political race. Sarah…I'm pretty sure she's got a PhD in badassery."

"That's not even a real word Chuck," Ellie drolly replied. "And don't even think about hacking into Merriam-Webster to put it in the dictionary. You think I didn't figure out what you did to win that game of Scrabble back in college?"

Chuck's grin was unrepentant. "It took them nearly eight months to find my little addition to the English language. I kinda wish they'd kept it."

"Chuck, it wasn't English," Ellie said while giving giving Chuck the flattest of flat looks. "It was Klingon, and not even Klingon from the tv show Klingon, but some of that stuff that you and Bryce had made up at Stanford."

Despite her tone, Ellie marveled at the transformation of Chuck. He had someone plotting to kill him, yet he was more relaxed and happy than she had seen him in months. "By the way Chuck, I've seen the way she looks at you. Trust me, she's into you." A bright smile blossomed on Chuck's face at that. "Now, you'd better make sure that Morgan stays distracted enough by food to not let Sarah know the history of her new piece of jewelry." The smile dropped from Chuck's face and was replaced by a look of concern as he rushed out of the room to keep Morgan from blurting out the story behind the bracelet.

* * *

The following morning found Chuck locked away with Ellie, Morgan and top campaign aides doing debate preparation. Sarah turned security of the campaign headquarters over to the agents based at the house, and drove to her nearby hotel room. Going into the closet, she pulled out her one piece of luggage and moved it over to the bed. Opening up the luggage, she unclipped a side compartment and carefully slid in the document that she had surreptitiously used Chuck's computer to locate and print out. She wasn't overly keen on the Secret Service, NSA, or (especially not) the CIA learning that she had obtained the document in question.

Slowly tracing her fingertips over the picture of her and Chuck at Jim's Steaks, she carefully closed the compartment to ensure that the photograph didn't get bent. If the alphabet soup agencies knew that she had a copy of the photo, they would likely suspect that she was compromised and yank her from the assignment. If they saw the way that she loving cared for the photograph, they would know that she was emotionally compromised and might wonder if she was mentally compromised to boot.

Sarah next reached into another compartment hidden in her luggage and pulled out a burner phone. Wondering if she was being overly paranoid, she first swept her hotel room to verify there were no bugs (she knew Graham would have no qualms about bugging her room, but she didn't expect that of Butterfield, but it was better to be safe than sorry) before activating her phone. As she dialed a number from memory, Sarah thought back to the halcyon spy days with the CAT squad. Originally a group of four beautiful, yet deadly, spies, the group initially found no success on its missions until Sarah and two of her teammates found proof that the fourth "teammate" was actually a traitor. Much to the enjoyment of Sarah, Carina Miller and Zondra Rizzo, Amy the Traitor decided to resist when they went to arrest her for treason. Sarah was relatively certain that after some surgeries and physical therapy, Amy was likely able to write and speak her confession.

As Sarah listened to the phone ring, she thought back to the success the trio had then enjoyed in shutting down drug cartels, gun runners and black marketers selling nerve agents to any willing buyer. Everyone had underestimated their intelligence, skills and courage. Carina and Zondra wound up being closer than family to her. She saved their asses, and they hers, more times than she could count. They were the best of the best, until some bureaucrat followed the time honored government mantra-if it ain't broke, change it. The squad may have been disbanded, but the blood ties and loyalty would always remain.

"Z," Sarah started without preamble when the call was picked up, "tell me about life in the private sector."

"Blondie. There were days when I thought I would never get this call."

(Two years earlier)

Word had come down from on high- the CATs were done.

"I'm out," Zondra stated the moment the video conference feed cut off. There was such finality to her tone that there was no question of her seriousness.

"What," Sarah asked, shocked that her teammate had ever considered such an action. "You're leaving because they are breaking us up?"

Carina stayed silent, staring hard at Zondra.

"No," Zondra quietly responded, shaking her head so that her rich, brown hair rippled back and forth like waves. "I was going to quit just before the CATs were formed. I had my notice ready and everything. But then they started this team up, and I loved working with you two. We kicked a lot of ass, and did a lot of good. But I can't go back to working solo-or worse, for some handler who has no clue how a field agent operates. Before the CATs, I wasn't sure if what I was doing was actually doing any good. But we were actually making a difference here."

"Anyway, I've got family back in California. I'm tired of never seeing them, of missing weddings, birthdays and births. I'm tired of having to lie about where I am and what I do. I'm done with not being there for people who love me."

"Rizzo," Carina said, her tone as hard as her look. "You do what we do in our world, you get cush assignments, promotions. You do what we do in the real world? You go to jail. Are you sure about this? You sure you can go back to life in the real world after seeing what you've seen? Done what you've done?"

"I'm sure, Carina. I'm sure. It'll be nice not having to constantly be looking over my shoulder, to go into a town and hope there isn't anyone there who I burned or busted in the past. I'll be able to tell people my actual name without wondering if in ten minutes I'm going to have to leave them or kill them."

"I'll keep my number," Zondra promised. "If either-or both- of you need me, I'll be on the next flight out."

She turned and left the room to email her resignation. Her two, now former, teammates watched her leave in stunned disbelief.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N 1: I had a couple of requests to post this chapter earlier than the usual week, and a rough week at work convinced me of the need for a little levity. So, we come to the titular chapter- although also one of the shorter chapters in the story. Bear in mind that I mentioned in the beginning that I was trying to write a relationship story without relying on the crutch of action scenes-otherwise this chapter would have unfolded a lot differently.

Ch 9 The Debate

Chuck was engaged in the speech. He was energized, and the audience was captivated by him. The problem was that Sarah kept getting captivated as well. This was such a different Chuck from the guy she had started to get to know-so confident, so self-assured. Yet it was still definitely the same guy-the same intelligence, the same compassion, the same ability to take a problem and look at it from one angle after another angle after another, all in the blink of an eye, until he found a way to solve the issue. Chuck might not understand why he had gathered such a following on the campaign trail, but Sarah could.

The issue was that she wasn't there to learn about a political candidate or even to learn about Chuck. She was there to keep Chuck alive. To keep him safe. To remember that there was an assassin out there who wanted Chuck dead. In a flash, she envisioned Chuck lying on the ground, his lifeless eyes staring unblinkingly into space. The eyes that were filled with such warmth when looking at her or when he talked about his sister. The eyes that were filled with such intelligence when tackling a problem. The eyes that were filled with mischief as he regaled her with stories about his childhood antics with Morgan. The thought of those expressive eyes being empty felt physically, nauseatingly painful to her.

She could picture life with Chuck in a house of their own. Cuddling with him as she suffered in silence through marathon sessions of nerdy tv shows and movies. The sound of Chuck running down the hallway while yelling "Luke I am your father" to their son who was fleeing the threat of a bubble bath...

The want-maybe need was a better description of what she was feeling- to have a home, family and children with Chuck was so unexpected, so alien that she was stunned to experience it. Never in her 27 years of existence had she remotely considered parenthood. Her few previous thoughts on the topic had been concurrence with Carina's statement during their CAT days that raising kids was best left to those with normal childhoods.

But Sarah had no doubt, none whatsoever, that Chuck would make an incredible dad. With his kindness and generosity, he would take the dad of the year award every year. But he hadn't had anything remotely resembling a normal childhood. So Carina had to be wrong-or Chuck was the proverbial exception that proved the rule. Could she handle motherhood? The very concept was terrifying yet exhilarating, alien yet comforting. The idea of a little girl with a mass of curly brown hair, with chocolate colored eyes with flecks of amber and gold, and a smile that could like up the world. And just maybe a little boy with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She could picture the children in such exacting detail that it was as though a part of her soul ached at not being able to reach out and hug them.

She stood stunned in the wings of the stage at the Center realizing just how deeply she cared for Chuck Bartowski. How had he gotten under her skin that quickly? It had only been a few days, but the thought of him going back to California and her going off on another CIA mission made her chest ache. But how could the relationship even work? ' _How was your day dear?' 'Oh, I met with Congress then negotiated a deal between a Fortune 500 company and its labor union to avoid a shutdown that would cripple the nation's economy. And you?' 'Me? I stabbed three guys and shot another two before blowing up a server farm for a radical group of hackers who were financing international terrorism.' Yeah, that would work out great. Or even better, 'Sarah, I'd like you to meet Ambassador Desmaris. Ambassador, my wife Sarah. Our country's top assassin.'_

How could a relationship between them work? But how could she not have a relationship with Chuck? All those romantic clichés about finding someone who was everything you never knew you needed in a partner. All too true. But in those sappy hallmark movies once the couple made that improbable connection, it was happily ever after. With her and Chuck they had made the connection, but she couldn't see how to get to the happily ever after. Happily ever after was someone else's fairytale. Given her work for the CIA, Sarah's life story was less fairly tale and more Brothers Grimm.

Sarah shook her head, trying to clear the haze of emotions she had been caught up in, oblivious to the odd looks some people gave her as the backstage workers had to part around her as she stood stilled in the middle of the wing, realizing her epiphany. She still had a job to do, she still had Chuck to protect. Even more painful than the thought of Chuck being separated from her was the thought of Chuck being hurt-especially on her watch.

 _Not going to happen. Head in the game, Walker._

* * *

Casey had been growing concerned with Walker. He had known of the Ice Queen by reputation. Having heard rumors about this elite CIA agent for so long, he had been shocked (not that his poker face had revealed anything) by how young she was when they first met. He had known for a long time that Langston Graham-like many other upper level bureaucrats in the intelligence game-was a cold hearted bastard, willing to do whatever it took to accomplish his goal. But for his "enforcer" to be the young woman Casey was first introduced to meant that Graham had started to mold her when she was still practically a child.

Casey had been given the chance to make an informed decision to sacrifice his future for the good of the country, and for the most part he didn't regret his choice. But he wondered if Walker was ever given a choice. Some people in his line of work weren't given much of a choice-sign up or rot in jail. But Walker had been too young to have gotten to the point of a choice that's not a choice. The realization made Casey despise Langston Graham all the more.

From his counter-sniper position, Casey had a clear view of Bartowski at his podium, but also a clear view of Walker as she moved in to watch him from the stage wing. He had seen her focus, at first thinking she had picked up a threat Casey had missed. But it dawned on him that she was focused on Bartowski. He knew that she was falling for Bartowski hard and fast, right before his eyes. Part of Casey felt for her-a young woman who hadn't had the chance at love and a life before getting swept up into the Grand Game. Mostly Casey was frustrated. Javier was out there and it was Sarah's responsibility to guard Chuck, not daydream about lady feelings. While he knew and respected Ron Butterfield, Casey preferred an active form of protection. He and Sarah should be out there hunting Cruz, not a protective detail waiting for Cruz to make his move.

Right as Casey was about to call her on the comms, he saw her expression change. Her eyes went from warm and sappy to ice cold and hard. A mask fell into place on her face, and Casey realized that he had just seen a young woman in love transform into the Ice Queen. After they dealt with the threat she could focus on those useless lady feelings. As long as the Ice Queen was present when she was working, it was none of his business what she felt when off duty.

* * *

The debate was just ending as the call came through comms. Javier had been caught by a state police officer. The patrolman had witnessed an SUV blow through a red light, smashing into a nondescript sedan. The smoke from the airbag was still filling the interior of the sedan when the officer looked through the window at the dazed driver. That was when the officer had seen the handgun in a shoulder holster under the driver's jacket. This was no government issued car or a government issued sidearm. The officer had then recalled the field briefing from the head of the Secret Service detail about an assassin suspected of being in the area.

Javier had started to come to, and realized a police officer was there, but the officer reacted faster, hitting Javier with a blast from his taser before Javier had been able to clear the gun from his holster. By the time the jolt had worn off, Javier was secured in wrist ties. Right as Javier was about to break free from the wrist ties, Ron Butterfield had arrived on the scene and had promptly zapped Javier with his own taser. When Javier finally came to again, he had wrist ties, ankle shackles and three heavily armed Secret Service agents watching his every move, every twitch. There would be no escape this time.

* * *

 _I had dreaded this assignment. Looking after pompous blowhards who weren't in any greater physical danger of boring themselves to death with their own overinflated sense of self-importance instead of any external threat. Instead I was really looking forward to hearing Chuck's speech. Even though with all of his meetings and movement I didn't know when he had time to write or rehearse it. And it was brilliant, just like the man giving it. But now the debate was over, the assassin has been captured, and my assignment is at an end. But that means a return to the CIA. A return to being Langston Graham's personal hitman._

When the debate had ended, a different type of bedlam had begun. Chuck had agreed to a few post-debate sit down interview. It seemed like every news agency was trying to get a piece of his time, regardless of appointments or not. Sarah was well aware that the Cruz threat was neutralized, but she still felt antsy. It wasn't her spy training signaling that her subconscious had picked up a threat. But she wasn't used to feeling nervous, so she decided to do what she does best, and let the Ice Queen shut down her emotions and scan the area for any threat against the protectee.

That plan worked for about ten minutes. There were plenty of Secret Service agents present, each of whom was highly trained to deal with standard threats against protectees. They were also very familiar with the typical chaos during and after a debate. Simply put, they had the situation well in hand and Sarah couldn't find fault with anything they did in looking out for Chuck. She had been brought in specifically to counter the Javier Cruz threat. The problem was that the Cruz threat was now contained.

As far as the rest of the protection detail was concerned, her services were now superfluous. She was still part of the team, but the full time Service agents were now in charge again. The problem for Sarah was that if the Secret Service no longer needed her to look after Chuck, she would be sent back to the CIA. In the best case scenario, if Graham could be trusted (relatively speaking) then within twenty-four hours of being no longer seconded to the Secret Service, Sarah Walker would once again cease to exist (until she returned to Langley) and some new name on a passport would jet off to solve the latest Agency crisis.

That problem led to a second problem, which was that she had come to like the Sarah Walker name of late. She had assumed that alias whenever she wasn't in the field (making her sometimes wonder what the CIA bookkeepers had "Sarah Walker" doing when she went out in the field? _Did the CIA tell the GAO that Sarah Walker was on a vital project to count each blade of grass in Yellowstone National Park?_ ). She allowed her thoughts to spiral. It kept her from thinking about the real reason why she was so nervous about the Secret Service assignment ending. Unfortunately, her spiraling had come to an end sooner than she would have liked, as the cause for the end of the spiral triggered a whole other set of nerves.

"Agent Walker, or could I just call you Sarah?" Ellie Woodcomb asked as she walked up behind the stationary agent. _Man, I really let myself get lost there for a minute. I didn't even notice her approach._ Sarah realized that Ellie was looking at her with a hopeful expression, clearly waiting for a response.

"Oh, uh, certainly. I think that I'd actually prefer it if you called me Sarah." As soon as she said it, Sarah realized that it was the unvarnished truth-something that seemed to come out a lot when the Bartowski siblings were around. Then Sarah saw something else that seemed to come out a lot when either (or both) sibling was around- the signature Bartowski smile that lit up their entire face and made the recipient feel incredibly special.

Chuck must have gotten it from his big sister. Sarah wondered if Devon had known that he was doomed the first time that Ellie unleashed the smile on him. _The poor bastard never stood a chance_. Sarah still remembered how hard she fell the first time Chuck smiled at her like that. _How hard I fell? I fell…I fell…Holy crap, I'm not falling in love with Chuck Bartowski. I'm already in love with Chuck Bartowski_. _Three whole days and he's it_.

Ellie was momentarily confused as Sarah's expression went from nervous ( _I wonder why she's nervous_?) to hopeful to stunned all in a matter of seconds. "I was wondering if we could talk about what happens next?" Now it was Ellie's turn to look hesitant, even a bit nervous, as if she was a big sister who knew that she was about to overstep her bounds.

 _I'm in love. Focus on Ellie. Can't have her thinking that I'm some kind of nutcase. Yes. Focusing on Ellie is a good idea. Don't think about Chuck right now. Ellie's brother. Who I'm in love with. Oh, crap. I'm in love with Ellie's brother. Okay, thinking about Ellie isn't such a great idea either. Let's try answering her question…about what happens next…with her brother…I'm doomed_.

"Ellie, you'll be glad to hear that the assassin was caught. Agent Butterfield is personally taking him to a maximum security facility. Chuck is safe." _Okay, good start. Safe topic._

Ellie started to wave Sarah off before pausing. Then that Bartowski smile came out again. "Oh, I already knew about Cruz being caught. John already told me." Ellie paused, trying to get her grin under control, but not really succeeding. "But you, you just called him Chuck!"

"Should I not have?" Sarah went back to being confused. _I thought the Cruz threat was supposed to be a safe topic? Why would I have called him anything but Chuck_?

"No, no, no. It's fine. It's good. It's better than good," Ellie exclaimed while clapping her hands. "The other agents just refer to my brother as 'the protectee', 'the package', or that giant goober's personal favorite, his Secret Service call sign 'Orion'. I think that it's great that you call him Chuck. Which leads me back to what I wanted to talk to you about."

Ellie paused once again, unaware of the havoc she was wreaking on Sarah's nerves. "I wanted to talk with you about what happens next with you and Chuck. I have a feeling that you have feelings for my brother. And I know for a fact that he's already crazy about you."

 _Holy crap_.

* * *

"Dr. Woodcomb, do you have a moment?"

"Of course. And John, please just call me Ellie. What can I help you with?"

 _Typical Bartowski response. First thought is to help others_.

"Ma'am," followed by an intense glare, "er, Ellie, I heard you speaking with Agent Walker earlier."

"Were you spying on me?" Ellie asked with a good natured grin.

"NSA," Casey replied while pointing to his chest. "Occupational hazard. I spy on everyone."

Ellie and Casey made their way down a hallway located far from the crush of humanity exiting the Center through the main concourses. After the crowds and craziness of a national debate, the silence, while welcome, seemed out of place.

"As I was saying, I heard you talking with Agent Walker back there."

Ellie gave a noncommittal grunt (which Casey found rather impressive), trying not to give away any information until she had a better understanding of Casey's endgame.

"Fair enough," Casey continued undeterred, and not remotely offended by the noncommittal response. "I've known of Agent Walker's reputation for years now, although this is the first time that she and I have actually worked together. Given her age, I've known about her for too many years. She has a reputation for being one of the CIA's top agents."

"What she does," Casey paused, "what I do for that matter, isn't pretty. It isn't nice. We don't have family reunions where we sit around chatting about what we do for a living. People want safety, they want security, which requires us to have information. Too often people don't accept what we have to do in order to get them that information. We rationalize our activities as they are necessary for the greater good. Does your brother understand, do you for that matter, that she has had to do things for her job that would give you nightmares so bad that you wouldn't sleep at night?"

Seeing the fire in Ellie's eyes, Casey raised both hands in supplication. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing Agent Walker. Pretty much anything she's had to do for her job, I've done as well- making googly eyes at a political candidate over a supposedly cover lunch notwithstanding." Ellie had to work to repress her grin at that little dig. "Folks who do what we do, not civilians or desk jockeys who think being in the field is the equivalent of starring in a James Bond movie-when you do what we do, it's hard to find a civilian who is capable of understanding and accepting that what we are called on to do is a necessary evil. Evil, but necessary. Typically, it makes for a lonely life for field agents. Most civilians can't, or just won't, find a way to understand and accept why we do what we do. It's even hard to form ties with fellow agents- we don't have the best life expectancies, plus it means that either party to the relationship might have to disappear on a moment's notice for days, weeks or even months at a time."

"I've watched Bartowski," another glare from Ellie resulted in Casey rolling his eyes, "your brother. I've watched your brother and Agent Walker. He might be the exception to the rule. But I've also watched you and your brother interact. Whoever is in his life is in your life, and vice versa. So you also have to ask yourself whether you are going to support your brother being involved with someone who is trained in over 200 ways to kill a fellow human being."

Ellie paused in the middle of the hallway, turning to face John Casey directly. "It's a fair question. A hard question, but a fair one. I consider myself a good judge of character. I may not know much, if anything, about Sarah Walker's background, but I do know this- she's a good person. She may have had to make some hard decisions and do some terrible things in her past, but that makes her all the more impressive for not giving into evil. Or, as my brother would put it, turning to the dark side. I've already trusted Sarah with my brother's life. I'm also willing to trust her with his heart."

"I know something else John. You looking out for a fellow agent, one you only met days ago, that proves that you are a good man too- well, Sarah's not a man, clearly, but you know what I mean."

"Don't go around gabbing about it," Casey growled, although the look on his face showed that Ellie's compliment meant a lot to him. "Now, at the risk of drowning in lady feelings around here, if your brother is interested in taking Walker somewhere away from all of this craziness so that those kids can sort out their ladyfeelings, there are some botanical gardens about half an hour from here. They've got one of the finest bonsai collections in the country. They've also got flowers and plants and crap for the rest of the world. Lots of space, good spot to have that talk they're going to need to have before the CIA comes calling for her."

A/N 2: I had tried to write Chuck speaking at the debate, but felt that it would have politicized the story. As noted in the story description (which I just realized was an incredible run-on sentence that defies the rules of grammar), I wanted this to be a nonpartisan story about the relationship between Chuck and Sarah. Originally, the idea was for the debate to take place early in the story. For a story with "Debate" in the title, it felt a little strange to have such a short chapter on the debate itself.

For the record, I always loved scenes when Ellie made Casey afraid.


	10. Chapter 10

Ch 10 The Threat Is Gone

A/N: Another post slightly ahead of schedule again by request. Several of the storylines running right now involve angst and oof- and this story has neither. I know many of you were hoping for Sarah to be the one to end the Cruz threat- believe me, I had so many ideas on how she could take Javier down or out-but my self-imposed task was to avoid the action theme crutch. I've started to map out a sequel story to this one, and the plan is for it to have plenty of action, while hopefully more romance as well.

My plan had been for this story to be 13 chapters and an epilogue. But I got some sage advice and have decided to expand to two epilogues. Not sure if that is permissible with regular stories, but it's happening here. I've only started a partial rough draft of the first epilogue, but I'm hoping to keep up the weekly updates and still finish on schedule. No promises on when the follow on story will start to be written.

I'm starting to wonder if Chuck owns Chuck, because no one else seems to be taking credit. Enjoy.

* * *

Sarah wandered through the campaign headquarters in New Castle, feeling like it was a ghost town now that the campaign was over. The televisions were still tuned to the various new stations, most of which were still talking about Jed Bartlett winning the Democratic primary. It had been a little over an hour since Chuck had stood in the lobby of a hotel in Philadelphia conceding the Pennsylvania primary to Bartlett. With Bartlett locking up the Pennsylvania delegates, he now had secured the nomination for the national convention. For Bartlett, the hardest part lay ahead.

For Chuck, the race was over. No more crisscrossing the country for breakfast meetings, town halls, and debates. He had left early the morning following the debate to fly to Pittsburgh, then on to Harrisburg before returning to Philadelphia in the evening. While clearly tired from the brutal travel schedule immediately following a debate where he had known that he was being targeted by an international assassin (Sarah hadn't been able to tell Chuck about Cruz's capture until after he left the stage at the end of the debate), Chuck had been equal parts humorous, grateful to his supporters and volunteers, and gracious to his opponent in his concession speech. He had lauded the accomplishments of Jed Bartlett, not only pledging his own support but urging his supporters to turn their support to Bartlett. He was genuine. He was eloquent. Frankly, Sarah hadn't expected anything less from him. Though she had only known him a couple of days, between their time together and her background research, she hadn't been at all surprised by how well he carried himself even in defeat.

Morgan had been standing by Chuck's side during the concession speech (as he had been throughout the campaign), and insisted that Chuck wouldn't be taking any questions. Sarah clearly heard a reporter ask Chuck what his plans were now that the campaign was over. Her heart had been in her throat when she watched Chuck pause, then turn back to the microphones. He simply stated that for now he would be spending some time getting caught up with his family and friends. There had been some good natured laughter when the same reporter asked if that was code for his beautiful, yet mysterious girlfriend. Chuck had merely flashed the infamous Bartowski smile in response, although Sarah noticed that this one didn't quite reach his eyes. She was stunned at the hurt that she felt from recognizing Chuck's sadness.

Forcing aside the melancholy that the news conference had evoked, Sarah wandered through the headquarters where volunteers still wandered around in their "Chuck for President" t-shirts. Seeing the volunteers packing up signs, stickers and mailers, Sarah decided that she should lend a hand. One last "good for the cover" act on her part, as her time as Chuck's cover girlfriend had come to a close. Before helping the campaign volunteers, Sarah reached into her pocket and pulled out her burner phone.

"Let me guess: you need help hiding a body, you need help hiding your body, or you decided that you are finally ready to get out," Zondra said when she answered the phone. No greeting, no pleasantries, right to business. _Some things never change, even if I'm changing so fast that I can hardly keep up._

Sarah let out a genuine laugh. They seemed to come so much more naturally after spending time with Chuck. "Zondra, why can't it be that I just called up to ask you to be a bridesmaid at my wedding?"

"Wait…WHAT?! Hold on a second," Zondra said as she recovered from her shock to realize that Sarah was giggling on the other end of the phone. "You are totally messing with me. Since when did the Ice Queen crack jokes? Or giggle for that matter? What is going on here?"

"People can change," Sarah responded, a bit more defensively than she intended.

"In six months?" Zondra shot back. "That's all its been since they broke up the band. Hmm, it's a guy isn't it? Who is he? What's his name?" A hint of suspicion colored Zondra's voice, "Is he the reason why you are suddenly interested in private sector security work?"

"Why does it have to be a guy?" Sarah retorted with a bit of sass.

"Either you forgot to duck and the medics have you all hopped up on happy pills, or you've met someone. C'mon, just tell me his name. When do I get to meet Prince Charming? Ooh, wait. Is he an actual prince?"

"Chuck is a lot of things, but a prince isn't one of them," Sarah replied.

"Chuck? Who in the hell names their kid Chuck?"

"What? It's not as though he had any choice in the matter," Sarah grumbled under her breath, or so she thought.

"Hmm, protective of this guy. You must really be serious about him."

Sarah smirked, "It's not like I had much choice on being protective."

"So," Zondra said in a tone devoid of any trace of banter, "I assume from the fact that you are twisted up about some guy that you were serious about getting out the last time that we spoke?"

"I can't get into too many details, but things weren't the same after they disbanded the CATs. My last mission wound up being run by a rogue handler. At least, I think…I hope that he was rogue. Graham told me that the guy was rogue and now has a sanction order out on him. But you know Graham. He and honesty are passing acquaintances at best. Was it really a rogue mission, or was it a Graham off the books special? I'll probably never know."

"I've gotten to the point where I can't decide if I'm being too paranoid or not paranoid enough. Once I ended the last mission, Graham farmed me out to a domestic agency. Said it was to let the heat die down from the rogue mission. Said he lined this up as a way to keep things under wraps. The thing is, my new supervisor came right out and said that he had sought me out and pulled a bunch of strings to get me on temporary duty with his agency. I've known the Agent in Charge less than seventy two hours and I trust him way more than I've ever trusted Graham."

"Ooh," called out Zondra in a light, teasing tone. "Is Chuck your new supervisor? C'mon Sarah, you have to give me something here. You've never mentioned a guy before. And your emails are practically sitreps. Now when Carina calls-"

"Wait," Sarah blurted in a shocked tone, "Carina's thinking of getting out? She's never said anything to me."

"Hell, no. Carina's not resigning. She loves the rush way too much. What other job could she doe where she gets to do all this crazy stuff without having to worry about getting arrested? No, she either calls to tell war stories or to boast about her latest hookup. Come to think of it, most of her calls start with a war story and end with a conquest. But the question isn't whether Carina's retiring. The question is: are you?"

"I don't know. I just don't. I was burnt out before this assignment started. Questions keep popping up-are the orders legitimate? Is this going to make the country a safer place? A better place?" Sarah paused for a moment before continuing, "Just how much blood can I get on my hands before I become just as bad as the people I'm trying to stop?"

"Does this Chuck guy know what you really do? Is he behind all of these questions?" Zondra asked, concerned that someone might be influencing or manipulating her friend and former teammate. Sarah Walker was the strongest person Zondra knew, hands down. After all of these years doing Graham's dirty work as his Enforcer, she had to be emotionally fatigued. Add dealing with a rogue handler on top of that? Even for the legendary Sarah Walker, that would be a lot to take on. But if there was some guy out there trying to manipulate her emotionally, he would be facing a sticky end. The fact that Zondra wasn't as experienced in Sarah at wet work didn't mean that Zondra couldn't make someone disappear without a trace if she wanted.

"Yes and no," Sarah enigmatically responded to Zondra's question, then let out a light laugh at her word choice. "Yes Chuck is aware that I'm CIA. And, yes, he's at least somewhat aware in general terms of what I can do-what I have done. But no, he doesn't know any specifics. No, he doesn't know how much blood is on my hands. And no, he's not behind the questions or the job fatigue. I've only met the guy a couple of days ago."

Zondra's fears of emotional manipulation vanished, and were replaced with good natured frustration. "Man, the Ice Queen finally opens up about a guy, and you've known him for less than three days? Seriously? I'd say you're killing me here Walker, but in light of our discussion about your job, I won't. I mean, I may want to, like really, really want to, but I won't."

"Thanks," responded Sarah dryly. "You're quite the martyr."

"If this was Carina," Zondra laughed, "we would both know the guy would be ruined for any other woman, if not just plain ruined." At that point both women laughed. "But if it was Carina, there wouldn't be any discussion of being emotionally compromised. Seriously Sarah, how far could you have fallen that fast?"

"I don't really know Z. With the CATs, there was a guy here or there. But I was operating under an alias, and was usually on a jet out of whatever country within twenty four hours. Before the CATs, there were the Andersons. But I don't think Bryce ever formed an emotional attachment, and my attachment to him was more of wishing-it-were rather than a it-really-is or even a it-really-might-become."

"For ten years I've been living out of a suitcase, changing my name as often as my clothes. That lifestyle didn't give me much experience to tell whether this is just a crush or a really great guy, or maybe something more."

"Ten years! What in the hell do you mean you've been doing this for ten goddamned years," Zondra raged. In a quieter voice she uttered, "I know how old you are, Sarah. We celebrated your actual birthday on Mykonos the one time. How could you have been a field agent for ten years?"

Zondra was practically whispering at the end. She was stunned, and this from a woman who was never caught flat footed. This was unheard of. "What in the hell was Langston Graham thinking? There was no way that was legal. Where in the hell is he so that I can go kick his ass!" Zondra was practically shouting once again as she raged at the cruelty of her former boss. Graham had taken her friend when she was still practically a child and molded her into his own personal assassin. Zondra had known that Graham was a manipulative egomaniac, but even for him this was unfathomable, unconscionable.

And how had Sarah managed to last this long, not just physically, but emotionally, in this life? Sarah had always jumped from mission to mission, preferring little to no downtime in between. Zondra had admired, looked up to and emulated Sarah, when they were teamed up. But even still she had seriously underestimated her friend.

Exhaling loudly, Zondra searched for her calm center before talking to Sarah some more. The problem was that her calm center had been replaced with a burning ball of rage by the revelation of what a truly cold hearted bastard the CIA Director was. Reminding herself that Sarah was the priority at the moment, Zondra returned her attention to the call.

"Ok, Blondie. We definitely have to get you out of the Agency. Honestly, it would be best to get you away from the alphabet soup agencies entirely, but for now let's start with getting you out of the CIA."

The words 'out of the CIA' echoed through Sarah's head, over and over again. She knew that she was a burnout, disgruntled even, although certainly not rogue. She had known that Graham was a bit of a bastard at the best of times, but the vehement response when Sarah let slip how long she'd been doing Graham's dirty work- a sure sign that she was losing her edge and needed a break-still caught her by surprise. Plus, as depressing as it sounded, the CIA had been Sarah's entire life since she had graduated from high school. Somehow, she didn't believe that being the CIA's top assassin would be the best entry on a resume. Just what kind of career could she hope for after this?

"Let's start with the fundamentals, and build from there. You've said that you are on temporary duty. What are you doing and where are you?"

"I've been seconded to the Secret Service. They got intel that our old friend Javier Cruz was looking to hit one of the presidential candidates. I'm currently in Delaware with the advance team for the candidate."

"Wait. Wait one second. Candidate…Chuck…where did I see…Holy crap! That's you on the lead story for the Washington Post and New York Times! Damn, girl. You look so beyond happy in this photo that I didn't even recognize you. You are dating your protectee? Ooh, kinky."

"I think Carina's been a bad influence on you," Sarah drolly retorted.

"Please. Carina is a bad influence on everyone around her, including you. Hmm."

"What? What is it?"

"It's just…I'm a little surprised is all. I'd pegged you as more of the Abercombie & Fitch model type instead of the model train builder type."

"Hey! No snarky comments about my boyfriend," Sarah instinctively reacted.

"Does he know that he's your boyfriend," Zondra asked curiously. "Although judging by the look on his face in this picture of you crazy kids at lunch, I seriously doubt that he would be opposed to the title."

"Well, he seems to think we are cover dating. But, he'll learn," Sarah commented with a huge grin on her face.

* * *

A/N 2: I know most of you were expecting Chuck to win the day and wind up as President. It just wasn't were I saw this story heading. But that's not to say that in the sequel that Chuck won't get dragged into politics again. It's a family thing.


	11. Chapter 11

Ch 11 The Reunion

A/N: Thank you to all who are reading, especially those who post reviews or send PMs. Zettel had asked when the next chapter would go up, and I told him it would be tomorrow night. I hope he isn't offended that it's going up tonight. We are hitting the home stretch for the main part of the story. I got some work done on the two epilogues, and am hoping to be able to keep up the weekly posting schedule when their turns come. I know that some of you were hoping for a President Bartowski conclusion to this story, but I wanted to focus on the relationship rather than the backstory. The plan is to bring the backstory to the fore in the next story, and mix in some action. But no promises until pen hits paper- after all, the first concept for Debate had Chuck running for President with Morgan as the VP candidate going up against Bartlett. That clearly didn't wind up happening.

These final three chapters are all pretty lengthy. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

Sarah was carrying a box of signs outside of headquarters when she nearly collided with Ellie, who had been sprinting into the house.

"Sarah!" Ellie exclaimed in clear relief. "I'm so glad that you're still here. The plane was halfway to Pittsburgh before I realized that you weren't on it. Then Ron said that your position on the support team had ended with Cruz's capture. I wanted to finish our talk from the Carptenter Center. I really hoped that you wouldn't just leave without saying goodbye, but I didn't know if your boss had already shipped you off with no warning."

"Ellie! No, I wouldn't just abandon you guys like that," Sarah said as she dropped the box and swept the elder Bartowski up into a hug, catching both women surprised at the gesture. Ellie quickly recovered and turned the embrace into one of her trademark, bone-crushing hugs. Sarah quickly realized that Chuck was only slightly kidding about the intensity of Ellie's hugs.

"After Cruz was caught, AIC Butterfield decided that a…well, a person with my particular skill set wasn't needed for a standard protection detail. I was left behind to make sure that Cruz was kept secure until US marshals transport him to a secure detention facility for questioning. I think Agent Butterfield knew that I wasn't looking forward to leaving this job."

"Really?!" Ellie exclaimed as Sarah wondered about the ability of the Bartowski siblings at getting people to open up without seeming to try. _It's like they come from a family of spies or something_. "If that's the case," Ellie continued while clutching Sarah's forearms in her excitement, "what are your plans for the future? Or should I ask, what are your intentions towards my brother?" Ellie was practically giddy, even as Sarah felt nerves overwhelming her. Sarah got an insight into Chuck's childhood, being raised by an older sister with such a strong spirit that she refused to allow to be dimmed by the roadblocks that life threw at her while continuing to focus on positivity and happiness. Despite their ordeal with abandonment by their parents, Sarah found herself envious of the intense family bond that Ellie and Chuck shared.

"My…my intentions towards your brother?" Sarah stuttered out, amazed at how intimidated the Ice Queen was while in the presence of Ellie Bartowski. She found herself caught off guard by Chuck's sister, even though Ellie was clearly thrilled at the prospect of Sarah and Chuck being more than a cover. "Ellie, we haven't even had a proper date yet." _Yet? Yet? What happened to my skill of not volunteering information. I got one of the highest scores in the history of The Farm in training torture resistance training, yet here I am running my mouth off. Besides, even if Jessop's or Jim's (what's up with Chuck taking me to dining establishments that start with J? He's not secretly still hung up on that worthless skank Jill is he?) weren't 'proper' dates, I still consider them to have been real dates. Of course, Chuck doesn't know that I've decided that Jessop's was our first date. But he deserves to hear that from me, not his sister_.

"Haven't been on a date? You two made international headlines with your lunch date in Philadelphia. How is it possible that the rest of the world knew for a fact that the two of you were on a date, yet the only one who doesn't know it was you? Well, maybe you and my idiot brother who probably is still working to convince himself that you were only pretending. But I've seen the way you act around him, and the way he acts around you. You both are crazy about the other, yet seem to work hard to convince yourself that the other really isn't into you."

Ellie let go of Sarah's arms and turned to walk away, pausing to look back over her shoulder. "By the way, one of the hazards of talking with a doctor is that we notice physiological reactions. When I called Chuck an idiot just now, your pupils expanded and your nostrils flared. You may not have moved, but you reacted to the teasing as if it was a real insult. But you can keep on telling yourself that you aren't crazy about Chuck. Or, maybe it's time to be honest with yourself Sarah." Ellie beamed another smile her way, then moved over to sit at the sofa.

Sarah collapsed down into a nearby dining room chair, thinking through the implications of Ellie's revelation. Sarah had been envisioning her secret relationship, thinking that it was so secret that not even Chuck knew that it existed. Apparently, Chuck was the only one who didn't know that it did exist. She thought that the campaign staff had just bought into the cover (there had been plenty of disgruntled women around when Sarah had been introduced as Chuck's 'girlfriend'). But Ellie knew about the cover. However, she believed that a real relationship existed.

Just then Morgan entered the backdoor of the house, making a beeline to the fridge to grab a grape soda.

"Morgan, do you, do you think that Chuck and I are dating or that it's just a cover?" Sarah asked tentatively.

"Duh," Morgan scoffed. "If that was just a cover, you would be an Emmy award winning actor. It's a good thing that you went into the Secret Service and not the CIA. You would make one lousy spy. The two of you are so far gone, I'm surprised that Chuck hasn't asked for me to dust off the wedding plan."

Sarah tried not to gulp audibly.

"Yet," Morgan added as he walked out of the room.

Ellie, for her part, winced at the utter lack of tact that was Morgan Grimes, although it wasn't clear whether the wince was for the bombshell he had dropped, or the belch that followed shortly after, from the adjacent hallway, when he was done drinking his grape soda.

"I don't think that you need to worry about Chuck getting down on bended knee anytime soon Sarah," Ellie assured her once Morgan was out of earshot. "But my brother is crazy about you. And with good reason. Now that the campaign is done, maybe the two of you can go on a proper date, without the complication of a cover or the intrusion of paparazzi." Ellie reached into her purse and pulled out a brochure. "John Casey, of all people, suggested this place to me."

"Longwood Botanical Gardens? Casey is into gardens? John Casey? NSA agent who mostly communicates through grunts? That John Casey?"

"I know," Ellie replied with a wide eyed look accompanied by a beaming smile. "He mentioned something about their bonsai tree collection being one of the finest in the nation. Which is just as random, come to think of it. Anyway, he overheard me talking about finding a quiet spot to go with Devon to decompress. Devon and I can go later. Why don't you take Chuck there? I think the two of you could use a little decompression yourselves."

Ellie gave Sarah a quick hug that only threatened to break a rib or two. She then headed out of the room with a quick wave and a beaming smile.

* * *

Sarah picked up the brochure and glanced at the pictures of the outdoor gardens, water fountains, and a conservatory that had formerly been a mansion. It looked beautiful, peaceful, and a perfect place to spend some time relaxing with Chuck. Besides, she needed to have a talk with him about her future, his future, and- _hopefully_ -their future together.

Sarah was still lost in her thoughts about the botanical gardens and how to broach the conversation with Chuck about continuing what they had started to develop when the burner phone in a hidden pocket in her jacket discreetly buzzed.

"Sarah, I've got a lead on a job opening before it's even officially open," Zondra shot out as soon as Sarah had picked up the call. Sarah was reminded of Zondra's habit of jumping straight to the heart of the matter, believing pleasantries to be a waste of time.

"And good morning to you too, Zondra," Sarah responded in an artificially sunny voice, just to tweak her friend. "That was quick work."

"A colleague at Lockheed told me that their R&D division failed a snap inspection by the Department of Defense. Given the number of DARPA and other DoD contracts the facility handles, the Head of Security post requires a Grade 11 security clearance or higher and they need somebody yesterday in order to not lose funding. The guy on the way out was a dinosaur. He had state of the art physical security, but largely ignored cyber-security."

"Anyway, I told my colleague that I knew someone looking to get out of deep cover ops. He was a little interested. Then I said it was the Ice Queen. Apparently you are even a legend outside of the Agency. Seriously, I think the guy started to drool at the idea of hiring you. He said the DoD wouldn't have to worry about security with the Ice Queen in charge. Here's the thing. Skunkworks is based in Palmdale, California. It would be great for me because Palmdale is just on the other side of the San Gabriel mountains from LA. We could meet up on weekends at my dojo, hit a spa, hit up the latest greatest nightclubs, or all three."

"The job is close to LA?" Sarah blurted out excitedly, without even thinking.

"Yes," Zondra slowly responded, her tone now suspicious. "I'm thinking being based near LA might not be as big of an issue as I had thought. Wait a sec!" Sarah could hear rapid keystrokes in the background. "Hmm, this newfound affinity for LA wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that, when not running for President, Chuck Bartowski calls Burbank home, would it?" After a few seconds of silence, Zondra asked in a serious manner, "Just how big of a crush is this?"

"It's not a crush," Sarah reluctantly admitted into the phone.

"What's not a rush?" Ellie asked as she rushed back into the room, a tablet computer in one hand and a huge cup of coffee in the other. "Oh, sorry. Didn't realize that you were on the phone. Don't mind me, unless you need a hand with something. We're waist deep in paperwork to wind up the campaign. It turns out there's more paperwork to close a campaign than to actually start one, but I'll do what I can to help you. Actually, I'd love an excuse to get away from this," Ellie said gesturing all around herself while hitting Sarah with a joking smile.

Sarah looked on stunned. She had imagined that Ellie Woodcomb was always calm and collected. The woman was an ER doctor who was always put together, even after overnight weekend shifts at Westside Hospital ( _I may have reviewed the security footage for the hospital of both Ellie and Awesome-but I certainly wasn't stalking Chuck by learning more about his sister and brother in law, it was just being thorough…really, really thorough_ ). Today Ellie had strands of hair escaping at all angles from her ponytail, and she had bags under her eyes instead of her usual flawless complexion.

"Hello? Hello? Walker, call me back to talk about the Lockheed gig." With that Zondra abruptly disconnected the call.

"No, not 'a rush', Ellie. I was saying I don't have a…you know what, it's not important," Sarah said catching herself in time, shrugging like it was no big deal. "We can talk about this later."

Ellie abruptly stopped what she was doing, took a deep, centering breath, and looked at Sarah with narrowed eyes. Sarah quickly broke eye contact, worried that if Ellie put two and two together she would realize…

"Crush!" Ellie yelled out, her eyes shining with excitement. "Do you have a crush on my baby brother, Sarah?" Ellie teased. Then before Sarah could even get in a comment that Chuck definitely wasn't a baby, Ellie jumped back in. "Wait. You said not a crush. But that means…Sarah, did you finally accept the fact that you are dating my brother?" Ellie was bouncing up and down with her hands clasped together in front of her.

Sarah quickly sat down, looking stunned, while Ellie practically vibrated in front of her sporting a huge grin that looked remarkably like her brother's trademark grin. _Well, I guess that puts to bed the question of whether Ellie would approve of me dating Chuck. Ok, I definitely shouldn't think of Chuck and bed in the same sentence. Oh damn, I did it again. Well, I didn't do it yet. Ok, I just need to stop. Now._

"Ellie, it's complicated," Sarah started, causing Ellie to instantly glower at the word choice. She assumed that many people made the mistake of dismissing Ellie as just another pretty face in the crowd. Sarah herself had experienced that on countless occasions, using as a weapon against marks. With Ellie, Sarah got the impression that she founds her looks to be irrelevant.

Ellie was brilliant. Just like her brother. Combined with being highly observant, she could make a for a formidable foe, or an equally formidable ally. Sarah would greatly prefer to list Ellie as an ally. Chuck was very close with his sister, and put considerable stock in her opinion. It was unlikely that any woman who opposed Ellie Woodcomb would have any chance at a meaningful relationship with Chuck Bartowski.

But Sarah also realized that Ellie also presented an opportunity and a challenge to Sarah independent of her hopes for a relationship with Chuck. Sarah recognized that there was a potential for a true friendship with Ellie. With Carina, Sarah knew there was always a willing participant in trips to night clubs, adrenalin fueled adventures, or vacations to exotic locations. With Zondra, Sarah had a friend who understood the rewards and risks in the career of a deep cover agent. She knew without question that Zondra would have her back if she ever needed it-as Sarah would have Zondra's back. They had survived and thrived in what was still a male dominated world of espionage, until Zondra had left for the private sector.

Ellie, on the other hand, offered the possibility of a friendship that was both simpler and far more deep. For Ellie, like Chuck, friends were simply an extension of family. Support, sounding board, advice, good natured teasing, or an outside conscience if a course of action was thought to be unwise. In a startling bit of insight, Sarah knew without question that if things with Chuck didn't work out-if the challenges of adapting to a relationship were too great for a woman with an extremely limited history of dating-that Ellie would still want to be friends with her. But as it appeared that Chuck was THE one, then her friendship with Ellie could evolve into a sisterhood, the likes of which Sarah had yearned for as an only child.

The stakes had just been raised on having a relationship with Chuck. She had to decide whether she was willing to risk that much when she has so little experience with dating. She drew in a deep breath, then slowly let it out, cognizant of the fact that Ellie was scrutinizing her every move in an effort to figure out where Sarah stood in Chuck's life, and in her own life.

Despite the multitude of demands on her time that Ellie was facing, she recognized that Sarah was at a crossroads, trying to make a big decision. Ellie sat down across the table from her and took one of Sarah's hands in both of hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. Ellie didn't say a word, didn't make a single sound. But the message conveyed by her concerned gaze was clear and unmistakable- Trust me, talk to me.

Sarah couldn't help but be impressed. In an instant, Ellie had gone from being frantic and harried to calm and confident. Her hair was still a bit wonky, but her intelligence and compassion shone through brilliantly. With that simple, yet considerate act of Ellie in shelving her to-dos in order to help Sarah, Sarah realized that there was no longer simply the potential for a friendship with Ellie. The friendship was there, and Ellie was letting Sarah have a say in how close of a friendship it would be.

Sarah looked from their joined hands to the care shining in Ellie's eyes and decided to do something which was simple, yet daunting to a woman who had gone from a lonely, dysfunctional childhood to an adult spy: to trust and confide in a new friend.

"That was my friend Zondra Rizzo on the phone. She's like me-" Sarah paused.

"Incredibly beautiful, incredibly smart and incredibly dedicated?" Ellie interjected, for a bit of levity mixed with a whole lot of honesty.

Sarah smirked, grateful for the vote of confidence. She realized that being friends with Ellie meant constantly having a source of support and encouragement. Ellie unknowingly gave Sarah the confidence to push forward with her disclosure. "She used to work at the CIA. With me. She was what I still am, a spy. We worked together for a while as part of an interagency team doing undercover operations."

There was a lull in the conversation as Ellie processed what Sarah just admitted, and Sarah freaked out on the inside about again violating the CIA rule against telling non-immediate family members about working for the Agency.

"Taking down bad guys and breaking hearts along the way?" Ellie finally joked, still stunned at the unexpected twist in Sarah's tale.

Sarah just shrugged, "Maybe." The two women shared a quick laugh. "Anyway, a while back Zondra got fed up with the old boy's club of espionage and left for the private sector where results are more important than gender."

Sarah paused again, surprised at how hard it was to overcome years of conditioning against opening up, yet finding it to be incredibly liberating. "She was calling to relay a job offer."

Ellie looked shocked for a moment. Then she pulled herself together to be supportive to her new friend, pushing down her disappointment over her dashed hopes for the mutual happiness of her brother and Sarah.

"That's, that's great Sarah." The smile on Ellie's face was a bit forced, but she was still determined to being encouraging to Sarah. "I hadn't even considered you changing your career, given how good you are and how much respect Ron has for you. Of course, I also thought your career was with the Secret Service, not the CIA, so…"

Sarah grinned. There it was, the Bartowski two for one special. Ellie had not only showed pride in her friend's abilities, but also showed how she respected the people around her. Ellie hadn't said "Agent Butterfield" or "your supervisor". To her, he was Ron. A person who Ellie clearly respected.

Sarah's nerves started to get the best of her, so she pushed forward even though she broke eye contact with Ellie. "It's in Palmdale. The new job..."

* * *

"Sarah, you're here," Chuck blurted out as he rushed into the kitchen, his panic causing Sarah to scan the area for threats. "Oh, thank goodness. It's just you weren't on the plane and Ron—"

"Ron?" Sarah asked, popping an eyebrow so high that Spock would have been jealous.

"What? The guy's job is literally to take a bullet for me- well, it was his job. I guess that it's not his job any more now that the campaign is over. But that's beside the point. The point is…What was my point?"

Ellie let out an indelicate snort at watching her brother spiral hopelessly into a mass of tangential comments. Like Sarah, she had been concerned by Chuck's entrance, but she had quickly realized that Chuck was just relieved at finding Sarah (as she herself had been moments earlier, well may not just like Chuck) –further proof to her of his feelings towards the beautiful spy. After that, she was entertained as her brother's ears turned redder and redder as he completely lost control of his brain to mouth filter. Watching her baby brother's embarrassment was her favorite older sister perk.

Chuck closed his eyes and heaved a huge sigh. Once Sarah had realized that there was no danger to him, she had found Chuck's spiraling endearing, and saw Ellie's complete lack of empathy as hilarious. She started to wonder how far Chuck would go right when he managed to collect himself and start all over.

"As I started to say, Ron-whom it would be rude not to refer to properly as the man had helped to save my life, and may I point out that you are in that group too Ms. Walker. Well, certainly not a man- anyhow, he had told me on the plane that you were no longer part of the advance team after Cruz was captured. Only he made it sound like you had been reassigned. Although thinking back, he never actually said that, only implied it. I now see that it wasn't the case anyway."

"Actually, Agent In Charge Butterfield- as he is my supervisor and hasn't yet saved my life," which drew a muffled giggle from Ellie that encouraged Sarah as she was normally rarely, if ever, funny, "told me that as there was no longer a need for a counter-assassin specialist, I was to stay behind to oversee the transfer of Cruz from local law enforcement to the US Marshals. Turns out that just required me to check the IDs of the Marshals and sign off on some prisoner transfer paperwork. That took all of ten minutes out of my day."

"Spy humor, nice one Ron," Chuck sardonically replied. "I'll have to remember to thank him." Chuck looked away, embarrassed about revealing his fear that Sarah would have been gone. "I'm just going to grab a beer in the kitchen."

Ellie followed Chuck out of the headquarters living room. Now that his nerves were calmed from finding out that Sarah hadn't left without a trace, his nerves rushed back as he thought about how to ask her if there was anything real under the cover.

"So, Chuck what are you going to do next? There is a beautiful, intelligent woman in the next room waiting for you."

Chuck was still trying to come to grips with how things had gone from perfect to awkward so quickly.

"Talk to me Chuck, what's going on."

Chuck started to open his mouth to speak, just as Sarah walked in the kitchen. "It's…It's complicated, El. Can we leave it at that?"

"Well, little brother, you need to decide."

"What do you mean, El?"

"Now that the campaign is over what are you and Sarah going to do? Are you going to ask her out on a proper date, with flowers, dinner, maybe dancing?" Ellie was practically vibrating with excitement, Sarah moved to the far side of the room.

"It's complicated El," Chuck quietly told his sister. "By tomorrow she could be often some other country on her next assignment."

"Chuck, forget her job," Ellie instructed her brother. "What is really going on here?"

"It's. She's. It's just complicated."

"She's a great girl. You're a great guy. What's so complicated? What am I missing here?" Ellie was so exasperated by her brother that she didn't realize just how loudly she was speaking.

"What you are missing is that I told Chuck that he wasn't allowed to tell anyone, you, Devon and Morgan specifically, about the fact that I am with the CIA," Sarah said as she approached the siblings.

"You heard all of that?" Chuck said, surprised.

"Spy chuck," Sarah responded while pointing at herself.

"I don't want…we…we don't want, you getting in trouble with your boss over us," Chuck responded.

"If we're going to make this work, Ellie needs to know. And she deserves to know."

The responding grin from Chuck was so big and bright it could likely be seen from the space station. Sarah couldn't help but grin back, despite her nerves over being judged by both Chuck and Ellie. "She already knows a little. It's time you both know more."

Sarah paused to screw up her courage for the big reveal to two people who had quickly become incredibly important to her. She was surprised, yet thrilled, to realize how much getting Ellie's approval meant to her, and not just to smooth the path to dating Chuck.

"Ellie, you know that I actually work for the CIA. And Chuck knows that I was selected for this detail because I know about Javier Cruz. I also told Chuck that my role on the detail was to neutralize the threat-which is government speak for killing Cruz before he could get to your brother."

"The truth is that I've been a deep cover agent with the CIA for a while now. My last assignment before being seconded to the Secret Service was to get intel on a financier for Eastern European organized crime. Drugs, prostitution, gambling. All the usual suspects. What the CIA and I didn't realize until too late was that the agent in charge intended the mission as a cash grab. He fed info to a crime boss that the financier was skimming money. The crime boss sent eight goons to take him out. The agent planned on stealing the man's money after he was dead. The problem was that the hit men carried out the job when the financier was with his wife and their baby. They butchered the man and his wife. When they moved toward the baby, I broke cover."

Sarah paused for a moment as the harrowing memory washed over her. She was far too aware of how closely Chuck was paying attention to the details she would have preferred to never have to share with him. A high speed chase with a shootout was thrilling. Admitting to Chuck, and Ellie for that matter, how skilled at delivering death she was felt terrifying.

"It was technically against orders for me to break cover. And, the Director wasn't happy about how messy the end result was, both literally and figuratively. But after that I was shipped off to the Secret Service to avoid the international scene for a while." _And to give me a bit of a break_.

Ellie looked horrified. "But were you and the baby ok? I mean you look fine, but..."

"Not a scratch on us," Sarah stated, taking a bit of perverse pride at that fact. "The eight gunmen and their boss, well I might have gotten a bit carried away."

"You took on nine killers? Alone?"

"As your brother would say, they didn't stand a snowball's chance on Tatooine against me."

"Marry me," Chuck blurted out, as Ellie's eyes bulged at his slip of the tongue.

"You keep saying that," Sarah shot him a wry grin, relieved yet again that he didn't hold her terrifying past against her. "Maybe we should wait a little on that. And besides, you are not down on one knee. Sometimes girls like to adhere to tradition."

"I don't know whether to laugh at seeing my brother meet his match, cry about that poor baby, or lose my lunch over the idea that nine murderers didn't stand a chance against you," Ellie finally admitted. She looked equally parts awed and horrified. She collapsed down into an overstuffed chair near the kitchen table. She clearly felt way out of her depth at the turn the conversation had taken.

"Ellie…You are important. No. You are everything to Chuck, so you need to understand. Sometimes my mission is to meet an asset to get vital information. Sometimes it's to recruit an asset. Sometimes it's to buy secrets. Other times to steal secrets. But, sometimes it's that our government needs to eliminate a threat. More times than I want to remember, the person chosen to end that threat was me. While I hate to admit it, the truth is I'm very good at wet work."

"Wet work? What a horrible euphemism," Ellie said while shuddering. "But you are wrong on something there, Sarah. I'm not everything to Chuck. At least, not any more." Sarah blushed at the implication.

"I'll be honest," Sarah replied. "As difficult as that is for a spy. I keep waiting for Chuck to come to his senses and realize what I am, what I have done, and that he will run away. A part of me wants him to run away, for his sake. But a bigger part is selfish and wants to feel normal by spending more time with Chuck."

Ellie blinked at the admission from Sarah, a determined look settling in on her face, "Sarah, I hate to break it to you. But what you and my brother share isn't normal. It's special. Incredibly special. It's so special that even if you were the monster that you fear you are, it might still be worth it for Chuck to be in a relationship with you. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that you are not that monster. A monster wouldn't perceive that fear. A monster wouldn't lose sleep over how Chuck thought about her. A monster would never factor in the feelings of a sibling."

In hindsight, Sarah wasn't sure why she did it. Maybe it was even slightly mean to pull it in front of his sister, but between Ellie being so supportive and Sarah feeling almost giddy over Chuck being so excited to see her, and the fact that he still hadn't run away screaming. And she was possibly feeling a bit mischievous on top of that. "Well, Chuck, I wasn't completely idle during my day. In fact," Sarah said turning to face Ellie whose eyes widened as she realized Sarah's intent, "your sister was just giving me a recommendation for a place I can take you tomorrow for our date."

"Date?" Chuck squeaked out. Sarah's smug grin was short lived, as Ellie decided that it was only fair to fight fire with fire.

"Well, your girlfriend here…oh, I'm so sorry, your 'cover' girlfriend was just telling me about her upcoming job interview in LA." Ellie crossed her arms while tilting her head while giving Sarah a tight lipped smile. The attempt to look intimidating was seriously undermined by the fact that Ellie's smile was tight lipped due to the fact that she was desperately trying to keep from laughing out loud. Pointing a finger at Sarah, Ellie proclaimed, "You and I are going to have so much fun!" Ellie then gave Sarah a quick hug, slapped Chuck on the shoulder with the back of her hand, and spun to walk out of the kitchen. She did not even break stride to reach out with one hand to pick up the Longwood brochure and slap it against her brother's chest. "Don't screw this up, baby brother."

"A date?" Chuck repeated in a hopeful voice, with a smile starting to bloom across his face, as though he had just been told that he had won the lottery but was trying to process the fact that the numbers on tv matched the numbers on his ticket. Only this was better than winning the lottery. Much, much better. This was Sarah Walker saying that she wanted to take him, Chuck Bartowski, out on a date. Not only that, but saying it in front of his sister. It was a little embarrassing that the eyewitness happened to be his sister. But it was still good that there was an eyewitness as Chuck was already beginning to wonder if the whole exchange had been some hallucination.

He had a date with Sarah Freaking Walker. _And cue the freak out…_

* * *

Just as Chuck was spiraling in a panic over what to wear, and where to take Sarah, Morgan rushed in to haul him off for one last interview with Wired magazine about the campaign and his plans for Carmichael Industries now that his role in the race was over. Sarah roamed around the house, before heading out to the bench on the front porch of the cozy house. She was just thinking about how much she had liked spending time in a house that was a headquarters, when Ellie slipped out of the front door and plopped down beside her.

Ellie had a bottle of wine and two glasses in her hands, making Sarah realize that this was intended to be a chat among two girlfriends, rather than an interrogation by a sister turned surrogate mom.

"I know that my brother is crazy about you. But what about Ms. CIA agent? How much of a thing under the cover thing is there when it comes to Chuck?" Ellie asked as she poured Sarah a large glass of wine.

"There is no thing under the cover," Sarah responded, "because there was no cover." Seeing Ellie's expression turned confused before her hazel eyes turn stony in anger, Sarah rushed to continue. "The cover lasted about halfway to Jessop's Tavern. By the time we finished walking there it was a date. By the time we left the Tavern, we were dating exclusively. Well, as far as I was concerned. Chuck may not have gotten that particular memo."

Ellie's glare quickly shifted into a wry grin. This was quite the woman his brother had fallen for, which was perfect. While Ellie would never have thought that Jill's successor would have been a spy, much less such a lethal weapon, Sarah was still perfect for her brother.

"Let me tell you," Sarah said while leaning conspiratorially towards Ellie, "the fundraiser breakfast in Philly was supposed to be all about protection, but there was this one socialite who was pretty obvious as to how she wanted to 'help' Chuck with his campaign. I believe that she kept saying he needed some stress relief. I was tempted to relieve some stress by using her as a punching bag. Actually, it was kind of cute just how long it took Chuck to pick up on her lines. I won't lie. I was feeling pretty smug when Chuck promptly ditched her, saying that his girlfriend needed him."

"Little did he know how true the 'girlfriend' title was, huh?" Ellie noted with a laugh.

Sarah responded with a one shoulder bounce, and a rather smug grin. Both women promptly fell about laughing.

"So, Javier is locked up and Chuck's run in the primaries is over," Ellie said while taking a sip of wine to hide the huge grin she was sporting. "What do you do moving forward? Are you really thinking of taking the job in California?"

"I am serious about it. I'm also worried. I've never known anything but spying for so long. I know that I'm good at it, one of the best, to be honest. But this is something that's really different, although parts are just the same. I'd started to think about it when I was first assigned over to the Secret Service. But, honestly, the thought of leaving the CIA became more and more tempting the more time I spent with your brother."

"I just hope I get to be a bridesmaid," Ellie said, watching Sarah closely for her reaction.

Sarah, in the act of taking a sip from her wine, sprayed her drink out over the stoop. Meanwhile Ellie fell from her chair laughing so hard at Sarah's reaction and the look on her face. It was a far cry from the cool, collected appearance Sarah had conveyed at their first meeting just a few days earlier.

"Lord. When you two finally do get married I'm going to have to organize the whole damned thing." Ellie cackled, still laughing hysterically. At the word married, Sarah resembled a deer in headlights.


	12. Chapter 12

Ch 12 The Botanical Gardens

A/N: I'm a little sleep deprived, but I'm pretty sure that I proofed this chapter. The question posed to our favorite couple in this chapter is: how many dates have they been on?

Enjoy.

* * *

"This place is amazing," Chuck said as they watched a flight of geese fly over the Carillion tower at Longwood Gardens, the site of a former mansion where the grounds were a horticultural showpiece and the house had been converted to a customized conservatory. The geese were almost gone from view beyond the tower as he turned to look at his date. Chuck had so wanted to see the top of the bell tower only to be stopped by a locked door within the tower, a lock Sarah had picked in under 5 seconds. She had been more focused on getting Chuck something he wanted to experience rather than considering the fact that she was demonstrating her skills at B&E.

But Chuck just looked at her in awe and promptly declared her the coolest person in the history of persons. Once back down on the ground level, the two had walked on quietly for a while, although a comfortable silence, before they sat down on a bench near the topiary gardens, quietly watching the afternoon draw to a close. They had wandered through much of the indoor conservatory before heading out to the various outdoor gardens.

The majority of the visit had been spent in companionable silence, often interrupted by Chuck's exclamations over seeing something spectacular, or sharing some obscure knowledge he had picked up while at Stanford. Whether silent, chatting or laughing with each other, there had been one constant throughout the visit, since being handed their tickets at the welcome center, they had been hand in hand throughout their explorations.

"How can Longwood be both world famous and a hidden gem?" Chuck asked with a laugh.

"Well," Sarah replied, "it's world famous among the horticultural crowd, not so much the general population. Except for their Christmas displays. Then it's jam packed."

Chuck spun to look at her, "How do you know how crowded it gets at Christmas? I thought that Ellie giving you the pamphlet was the first time that you'd heard of this place?"

"Well, when she described how romantic it was, getting intel on it was just proper mission planning."

"So, are we considering Longwood a mission or our first date?" Chuck asked with a broad grin as they stood up to resume their stroll around the grounds.

"Well, if it's okay by you, I was kind of hoping for our third first date? I mean…Our visit to Jessop's Tavern included me telling you that I'm a more accomplished killer than one of the world's most elite assassins. I may not have that much experience with relationships, but even I know that isn't the most romantic conversation topic for a first date. But, yes, I was considering Jessop's as our first date. Then the whole morning in Philadelphia was kind of a date in itself. The visit to Jim's. The photo in the Post that really sold the cover- because to me the cover was already real by that point."

"No. I mean yes. I mean that it's okay by me. I was just asking for anniversary purposes. Good to know," Chuck replied, looking a little flustered at the idea of discussing dating her. "And when you think about it, it means that we're farther along in our relationship, so I don't have to worry as much about the typical first date screw ups. I mean, I've met, and am now on my third date with the most incredible woman in the world."

"I don't know, Ellie is pretty incredible in her own right," Sarah said with a laugh.

"That she is," Chuck acknowledged with a bob of his curly head. "But I really don't want to date her because eww."

Sarah laughed aloud at Chuck's grimace, "True. I'd much rather date you than Ellie. Wait," Sarah said as her heels practically skidded to a stop on the ground as Chuck's earlier comment finally filtered through her head. "Anniversary purposes? I thought you had said it was a first date?"

"All anniversaries first start out as a first date, anniversaries happen when the dates just don't stop coming," Chuck stated matter of factly, while draping an arm across her shoulders as they turned down a sun-dappled path leading back towards the main conservatory.

"Oh look," Chuck suddenly called out as they looked through one of the multitude of windows of the Conservatory. "Casey's bonsai trees!" He dragged her into the room. They looked at the gnarled, ancient trees (both trying to figure out Casey's fascination with them), before moving on to the tropical plants and trees room. Halfway through that room, Sarah realized that they were hand in hand. Thinking back, she realized they had been since entering the gardens through the tunnel like Welcome Center. What was not disconcerting was the realization that she really didn't want to let go. Hand in hand with Chuck, exploring the world. It didn't just feel comfortable. It felt like home. Suddenly the thought of anniversaries felt less overwhelming and more like something to look forward to.

* * *

"So what now?" She tried to keep her tone light and unassuming, as they wandered out of the lower entrance of the conservatory and toward the fountain display that was just starting its marquee show.

"Well, after a bit I'll head back to Burbank. First I'd like to explore the history of this area a little more. A little ways up the road from here is Brandywine Battlefield. A little further along is Valley Forge, where George Washington and his men camped out in the bitter cold. So much history, all so close together. It's pretty incredible."

"But first," Chuck said as he once again became lost in Sarah's eyes, so alive with happiness and laughter while they were on their official date. "I've got to solve the issue of what the next part of my date with Sarah Walker is going to involve. I don't know if you've met her, but she is one amazing lady. So whatever comes next has to be pretty spectacular."

"Actually Chuck, I've already booked us a table at a little restaurant nearby. When I got lucky enough to land a date with this incredible guy named Chuck Bartowski, I realized that I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could. And he's far too much the gentleman to deny a woman food after such a romantic date in such a beautiful place as these botanical gardens."

"Well, I hope he appreciates how lucky a guy he is."

"It's up for debate who's the lucky one here."

"No more debates! Unless it's a debate about where we should have our second date-or fourth date?" This was said with a smile but with eyebrows inching skyward-giving away his nervousness that she might say no, instead of it coming across as some line from a smooth operator.

Sarah's CIA training kept her expression unchanged even though she was doing a happy dance on the inside.

Chuck and Sarah strolled back through the Italian Garden section of the property, quietly admiring the natural beauty subtly enhanced by the landscape architecture and botanists. While the summer heat hadn't fully set in, the temperature was pleasantly warm in the sunshine. The skies overhead were a cloudless brilliant blue that served as a constant reminder to Chuck of his companion's ( _date's!_ ) incredible eyes.

Chuck finally broke the comfortable silence that had existed since the end of the incredible fountain display by the main conservatory. "So, what's in store next for Agent Walker? Are you going back to the CIA? Or has Ron tempted you sufficiently into staying on with him at the Secret Service?"

Sarah's head spun to Chuck in surprise. _Ellie hadn't told him? As excited as Ellie had been about Sarah's interview for the Lockheed job opening?_ "I had assumed that your sister had already said something to you." The look of confusion on Chuck's face was so adorable to Sarah that a light giggle escaped. _Since when do I giggle? Actually, that's an easy answer. Since Chuck. Graham would lose his mind if he saw his Enforcer walking hand in hand with a man through botanical gardens and giggling_. "She walked in on me when I was on the phone. Next thing I knew, she had ferreted out all of the details. If she ever wants to quit being a doctor, The Farm should hire her to teach interrogation skills."

Chuck tilted his head back and laughed out loud, thrilling Sarah in the process as she had always felt that she was simply not funny. "El's not usually too nosy, but man, when she wants to know something there is no way of keeping it from her. Whether my homework was done in high school, my plans for work after I finished college, any time I was interested in a girl." The last one caused one of Sarah's eyebrows to raise in interest. "It is an impressive skill," he admitted, "even if it was sometimes embarrassing to me back when we were kids." As Chuck shook his head in fond recollection of his older sister's interrogations, they headed over to the pond to feed the koi fish living there.

"So, I should go to Ellie to find out about all of the skeletons in your closet? The ex-girlfriends?"

"It would be a pretty short conversation. Not much to talk about besides Jill, who Ellie never liked, come to think of it."

Sarah's response was a flat, "Oh. Her." _Maybe before I go to the SkunkWorks interview I should track her down. Then again, I kind of owe her. Not only did she screw things up between her and Chuck, but he was so scarred by the experience that he wasn't interested in any other woman. Until me. Until me_.

While Sarah was stuck in her own head debating whether or not to unleash the Ice Queen on Jill, Chuck let out a quiet laugh, surprising himself with the realization that, for the first time since their breakup, he was about to think about Jill without any heartache. There was still a dull ache from the betrayal itself, but even that now seemed to be more about the idea of her being unfaithful rather than the debilitating pain that used to accompany the thoughts that she was no longer a part of his life. But he had someone else by his side now. While Jill was also smart and beautiful, she paled in comparison to Sarah in every way. Jill was now nothing but a distant memory for him, and he was perfectly fine with that. Now he just had to figure out how to convince Sarah to go on a date again with him after this. Although, according to her this was already their third date.

Chuck knew that Sarah wasn't perfect, but she was really damn close. She didn't open up about her past much, not even her days before the CIA. He knew that most of her CIA work was highly classified, but that it somehow haunted her- similar to what went down with her last mission. She likely wouldn't be able to talk to him about much of it, even if she wanted to. But given how she had subtly steered the conversation in a different direction each time it had come up, she clearly didn't want to open up about her CIA past any more than she already had. Which was apparently far more than she was allowed to. The fact that she was willing to take such a chance, not just with him but with Ellie as well, was truly humbling.

But Sarah also gave better than she got in their lighthearted banter. She knew so much about what was going on all over the world around them (a skillset that had proved extremely helpful in Chuck's preparations for the foreign policy questions during the debate). And her performance at the breakfast fundraiser had been incredible. She had a way of taking each fact she was given and instantly analyzing it from multiple different angles. She was, in a word, amazing.

Chuck finally broke the short silence between the two, "I take it you are familiar with my history with Jill Roberts." It was a serious question, but one relayed with a smile.

"Research. I needed to know if she might have been the one behind the Cruz threat. I couldn't leave any stone unturned in trying to find out who was a threat to you." This admission worried Sarah a little. Would this detail make Chuck finally realize how much they had invaded his privacy? How they had turned his life upside down in the name of protecting him? How she knew pretty much every detail of his life before she showed up, yet he knew next to nothing about hers?

But Chuck just gave her one of his trademark grins. "Of course you did. Honestly, I wouldn't have expected anything less from you. Ron was one hundred percent right when he said that I was much safer having you protecting me."

 _I ransack his privacy, forcing my way into his life and inner circle of family and friends, and he is grateful to me for it. Unreal_.

"I was incredibly lucky to have Ellie in my life growing up. I was just as lucky to have you here when Cruz decided to come after me." Sarah felt a little lightheaded at that simple statement. Chuck had just put her on equal footing with his one blood relative, who had pretty much raised him during his formative years. Sarah's eyes widened at the implication, even though Chuck appeared to be oblivious about the significance of his comment. He was focused on kneeling down to scatter the fish food, trying to make sure each fish got some. Because that was Chuck. He couldn't help but take care of everyone around him, including random fish.

Straightening up, Chuck turned to Sarah with a mischievous grin, "So, do I get to learn what my sister apparently already knows about the future plans of Sarah Walker? Or do I need to break out my secret weapon?"

"Hmm, now you've got me curious," Sarah sassed back, causing Chuck to grin even wider. "I think I need to hear about this 'secret weapon' of yours." Having said that, she tilted her head to the sideways and pretended to squint at him in challenge.

"You want to learn about the famous Bartowski eyebrow dance?" Chuck huffed in apparent disbelief. "Maybe I should show- no, no. You're not ready. After all, no one expects the Bartowski eyebrow dance."

"Bring it, Bartowski."

Chuck laughed at Sarah's open challenge. He then started pretending to shoot at her with his fingers while simultaneously bouncing his eyebrows up and down. Sarah had to wrap her arms around her waist as she doubled over in laughter at Chuck's silly antics. She couldn't remember, for the life of her, when she had last felt so free, so relaxed. Chuck brought light and laughter into a life that she had spent hiding in shadows since joining the CIA. She didn't want to go back to that old life, or what had been a pale imitation of life before she had met Chuck Bartowski. As long as he would let her be part of his life, she would dance in that light and laughter.

That realization also showed her that it was time. Chuck had always been open and candid with her. It was time for her to return the favor, praying that he would want her in his life as much as she wanted to be in his. "A friend of mine got me a job interview. According to her, the job is mine for the taking if I want it."

Chuck gave her that grin that always made her tingle. "Sarah, that is such great news! You can step away from the CIA, and you get to work with a friend. That is, well there is no other way to say it, that is awesome."

Sarah couldn't help but smile. The big idiot. He was happy for her because he assumed that she would be happy. Well, she hoped to be happy, very happy. But Zondra wasn't going to be the reason for that happiness.

Reaching up to smooth the already smooth collar of his shirt (and pleased to see him swallow and blush a bit in reflex), Sarah stepped closer to him and in a slightly huskier voice continued, "I wouldn't be working with my friend Zondra. The job would be head of security for a division of Lockheed-Martin." She paused to look him in the eye for a moment, willing him to pick up on the significance of the job offer. "The job is in Palmdale."

"But Palmdale is…" Chuck's voice tapered off as if he didn't want to jinx himself by saying it out loud.

"Less than an hour's drive from Echo Park," Sarah finished for him.

She watched his face closely as his expression turned from a guarded hope (as though he really wanted to belief that this was real) to rapture at learning that it was real. _Oh Lord, if he thought that goofy eyebrow dance was irresistible, he should check out this look on his face. I did that. I made him that happy. Wow. Just. Wow_.

Chuck cut off any further thoughts of Sarah's, quickly closing the gap between them and planting a kiss on her that caused her toes to curl up in her boots. It was a kiss of promises to be kept in a future with them together.

They were standing before the Eye of Water. The bubbling sound of water being trapped in the copse of trees on a low hill overlooking the property. Sarah couldn't hold back. With a slight tug on their joined hands, Chuck moved closer-because he was Chuck and giving Sarah what she wanted or needed was already second nature to him. She ran her free hand up through the riot of curls ( _been wanting to do that all day_ ) and closed the small gap between them. The spot was just too damned romantic, and they had it all to themselves.

She felt such contentment in the kiss- as though the two of them together was a natural, yet previously missing component to each of their lives. Contentment wasn't the only feeling she got from the kiss- but those other feelings would need to wait for a spot that was a little more private. She didn't imagine that the job interview that Zondra had arranged would go well if she said that she had to delay her job start date by eight to twelve months to serve as a guest of a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania correctional facility for lewd and lascivious behavior. Although it just might be worth it. Scratch that. It would definitely be worth it.

She had felt heat with kisses in her past, but never accompanied by that feeling of contentment. As she ended the kiss, she watched as Chuck's eyes fluttered open and she allowed herself to get lost in his eyes. She allowed herself a quick daydream of what it would be like if the botanical gardens were their property, with the conservatory as their home. _Why don't I just picture us living our lives at Pemberly…that's what I get for reading Austen in my down time on an assignment with Chuck_. But the thoughts formed pictures flashing across her mind. The two of them walking the grounds, arm in arm with a couple of little girls with ringlets of gold hair and honey brown eyes laughing as they played nearby with a pair of young boys with stick straight brown hair and cerulean blue eyes.

She had briefly considered, during the debate, what it would be like to have children with Chuck. The thing that was freaking her out was that she wasn't freaking out over the idea of having children. What had her spooked was how much she liked, longed for, the idea of forming an idyllic family. _Okay, Sarah. Settle down. This is only our third date. Until this morning, Chuck had thought this was our first date. Wait, third date_! And with that realization, the feeling of contentment took a back seat to her more lascivious thoughts.

Without telling Chuck what she was thinking or doing, Sarah pulled out her phone, located and booked a room at a local bed and breakfast in nearby Kennett Square. Thankfully, years of training meant that she kept a go bag in her car at all times. After all, what self-respecting couple would check in for an overnight stay without any luggage?

"Let's go, Chuck. We can grab a late lunch and then I've got a surprise for you."

Sarah tugged Chuck's arm as she quickly moved down the path towards the main entrance and her car. "Woah, Sarah, what's the rush? I didn't realize that you were that hungry."

"You have no idea," Sarah mumbled, mostly to herself. "We're going to need to keep up our energy."

* * *

As Chuck and Sarah headed back through the tunnel to the welcome center to get to the parking lot, a man and a woman got up from the bench by the arboretum where they had been discretely watching the couple.

"You'd make a fair spy if you ever decide to change careers," Casey grudgingly admitted to his co-conspirator.

"Thanks, but the only spying I've done is to make sure my little brother is safe and happy. From the looks of things, I can hand off those duties to Sarah. I think she's better qualified for the job," Ellie admitted, a soft expression showing her own care and respect for her brother's date-someone who Ellie could also see becoming a close friend of her own. _So much better than that scheming skank Jill. Never did like her, or see why Chuck was so taken with her._

"Well, they're sorted. I'll be admiring the bonsai collection if you change your mind and want to keep following them." Casey stood to walk inside the Conservatory to his beloved collection of gnarled, ancient trees.

"They're already gone. How would we find them?

"Oh, I laced their breakfast this morning with nanobot GPS trackers," Casey shrugged as if it were an everyday occurrence to spike someone's food with trackers.

"John!" There was so much for her to learn about the life of spies. But it looked as though one was going to be with them, hopefully for a long time. And Casey may not have realized it, but Ellie had already adopted him into the extended Bartowski clan. Poor sucker never stood a chance.

"Hold on for a moment, Chuck," Sarah said as she pulled out her cellphone to shoot off a quick text as they walked out to the tree lined parking lot. "Ok, all done. What do you say we go grab some food and maybe a glass or two of wine?"

Chuck's grin was his only response. It said a lot to her that he didn't even comment on her texting someone. No question as to who she was contacting or what she said. No jealousy, no insecurity. Just trust. His trust in her was total, and heartwarming. He was truly special, and she couldn't be happier about that fact.

Ellie stared at her hands in stunned silence. Casey realized that something was wrong and came back over. Peering over her shoulder, he saw the screen still open on her phone cradled in her hands, the message from Sarah reading "That color green is lovely on you. You should wear that blouse more often. Although wouldn't you have preferred to spend the day in such a beautiful spot with Devon instead of Casey?"

"Well, damn," Casey grunted out. "She made us and I never even knew. Walker is good. I'll give her that. She is good."

* * *

Chuck and Sarah sat at a table at the outdoor deck to the Four Dogs Tavern just down the road from Longwood Gardens. The setting seemed appropriate with the neatly trimmed hedges and flower pots bursting with color. Given the time, between lunch and dinner crowds, they had the deck entirely to themselves. To be safe, Chuck had covered up his wild curls under a baseball hat sporting the mascot for the University of Delaware. Sarah had given him a hard time about risking protests from PETA for wearing a hat that referenced rooster fighting. Chuck, however, had said that he couldn't resist buying it to show appreciation to the University for hosting the debate. Sarah called him out over the fact that the Fighting Blue Hen mascot also served as a historical reference to the Revolutionary War.

"So, Chuck, how are you doing now that the campaign is over? Really?" Concern had leaked into her tone, but Sarah found that she was becoming more comfortable at showing her real feelings, at least when it came to Chuck. Maybe someday he would realize what a unique experience that was for her.

"A little disappointed that the campaign is over, to be honest. But I'm also a little relieved. I'm still kind of confused at how all of this started and how it got this far. Also, I think that anyone who becomes President should have dreamed about being president their whole life. I hadn't ever seriously considered it until I was halfway through the process."

"Did I tell you that before the debate, Morgan and I got to meet Joe Biden? He has such a passion for public service that it made me really want to win. Mr. Biden told me not to be intimidated by Jed Bartlett, but also that Jed is a good guy. I've to to admit, Joe was right on both counts. After the debate, after the handshake on stage for the cameras, Jed shook my hand again in private. He told me that I had made some outstanding points, and he was going to reconsider some of his own beliefs based on what I said. Then he looked me in the eye and said it had been an honor debating against a good man with a sharp mind."

"While I could have done without the live audience and the national television audience, I enjoyed debating against Jed. He mentioned that he wanted to stay in touch, to get my input on some things and bounce ideas around," Chuck said as he reflected back on the end of this chapter in his life.

Sarah looked at the man across the table from her and decided it was time to let him know just how important he already was to her. "You know Chuck, despite what I said to you when we first met," Chuck looked up at her with a look of slight confusion, "back when Cruz was coming after you, I would have taken a bullet for you." Her admission was both intimidating in revealing how deeply she felt for Chuck, but also so incredibly liberating. Chuck may not have realized it, but it was his presence, his belief in her, that made her willing to open up emotionally. It was an exciting and terrifying new world for the former Ice Queen.

Chuck had a slight grin on his face as he looked deeply into Sarah's eyes, "Me too, Sarah. Me too."

Their plates empty, and their wine glasses nearly so, Chuck leaned back into his chair, "This was an excellent spot to eat. How did you find out about it? Knowing you, this was planning, not pure luck" Chuck looked around the mostly empty deck, not surprising as they were eating midway between the dinner and lunch crowds. The tall hedges had twinkling lights woven through the branches, creating an intimate feel.

"Morgan, actually. When Ellie suggested Longwood…" Sarah said, having difficulty keeping a straight face. _Thank God Chuck is the only one to affect me this way. Some spy I would have made otherwise_.

"You researched the area surrounding Longwood Gardens, didn't you," Chuck asked with a knowing smirk. He already knew her better than those who had worked together with her for years.

"Anyway," Sarah said, moving the conversation forward rather than confirm the information they both knew to be true. "It was close to the Gardens and sounded perfect."

"Speaking of which, who knew that botanical gardens could be so fascinating? It was like its own little world that exists outside of time. I think I could spend weeks just wandering through the rooms and different gardens. It has really helped to get my head out of the campaign. Of course, the company may have also helped. Just a smidge"

"Well, I had figured that with the Stanford logo depicting a tree you wouldn't be adverse to a little time communing with nature."

"You know me so well already, don't you?"

"Not nearly well enough, Chuck. Not nearly well enough," Sarah replied as she leaned forward to kiss him. Given the fact that they were in public, Chuck kept himself restrained in the kiss. But Sarah was fine with that. After all, the bed and breakfast was just down the street. Sarah made a mental note to order more food when the server came by. She had no plans to make it out to dinner that night. Maybe they'd make it out of the room in time for breakfast. A late breakfast. Well, maybe brunch…

He looked at her questioningly as she hustled them out the front door and over to her car, but he didn't question her. His trust in her was, and always had been, absolute. Just another example of what an incredibly special guy Chuck Bartowski was.

Sarah didn't know how she would react if she ever met up with Jill Roberts. Would she beat her to a pulp for hurting Chuck? Or would she thank Jill for screwing up so hard that Chuck avoided women until Sarah came along? Or would she thank her first, then pummel the horrible excuse for a human being? That sounded good. But Sarah knew at least one thing with absolute certainty: she would be by Chuck's side for as long as he would have her. And since Chuck seemed more than happy to be by her side for as long as she would have him, that should work out just fine.

 _Enough thoughts about Jill. This place is basically a small village. How could it take so long to get to the bed & breakfast? It's been…two minutes since we left the restaurant. Oh. Wait, there it is up ahead on the left. And I forgot to tell Chuck about this part of the date, not like I had planned on it before Longwood, but…_

"Umm, how do you feel about postponing our return to New Castle until, say, tomorrow?" Sarah asked, surprisingly timidly. She watched the confusion on Chuck's face give way to understanding as he looked from her to the quaint B&B. "Late tomorrow?" She practically growled out. She couldn't help but laugh as Chuck fumbled with the door to her Porsche, cursing out German engineers for making it difficult to get out. She reached over to her own door to push the button to unlock the doors. "I'll take that as a yes?"


	13. Chapter 13

Ch. 13 The New Job

A/N: We're getting close to the end. This is the final chapter proper, although the two epilogues are close to being done. I plan on keep posting on a weekly basis. Enjoy.

* * *

Sarah leaned back into the cushions of the sofa in Chuck's living room. It had only been three months since she moved to California, but Chuck's apartment already felt like home ought to feel. Although she had rented a townhouse tucked into the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, Sarah spent all of her free time in Echo Park. With Ellie and Awesome (not that she called Devon that when Ellie was around) just across the courtyard, Sarah felt as though she had a home for the first time she she had left for college.

She never complained about being raised by a single parent. But she had also longed to be part of a bigger family with siblings. Ellie had jokingly introduced Sarah to one of her co-workers as her sister in law. Sarah had been somewhat shocked, but mostly thrilled at Ellie's blatant endorsement and stamp of approval. Sarah had also noted how the other woman's smile never reached her eyes. She suspected that the sister-in-law title wasn't just to show how highly Ellie thought of her, but also to send a message that Chuck was off the market. _Too right he was_.

Sarah took a sip of her wine and checked the time. She was a little nervous about the upcoming dinner for several reasons. Chuck had assured her that it was safe for Emma to visit with Molly, and Sarah was trusting Chuck even though this was her most closely guarded secret. Sarah was also a little nervous as she was introducing her mom to Chuck, who she was still amazed loved her for her, and Ellie, who had quickly become both a close friend and confidant. She rather suspected that Ellie was keeping a careful eye on the courtyard as Emma was due any moment.

Just as the realization occurred to her that it was time, Sarah heard a knock at the front door. Sarah opened the door to be engulfed in a hug from her mom. Emma looked pleased as she looked around Chuck's apartment, noting the comfortable ambiance, although she was somewhat confused with the large amount of sci-fi memorabilia. Emma also looked warmly at the apartment's occupant and the love interest to her daughter, at least her older daughter. Sarah had been vague about how it was that things had changed to make it safe for Sarah to associate with them. Noting the way that Chuck looked at Sarah as though she was the most incredible person on Earth, Emma suspected that Chuck may have had something to do with it.

Emma looked at the young man in question, noting to Sarah how handsome he looked in the black button down shirt with epaulettes, which gave him an almost military bearing. Sarah had done a full belly laugh at that comment, causing Emma to raise an eyebrow in response. Her girl was so much more open now, it was like looking at an entirely new woman. A new woman that Emma was inordinately proud of.

"What, pray tell, is so funny?"

"Sorry mom," Sarah said as she struggled to contain her giggles and catch her breath. "It's just the thought of Chuck in the military." Another fit of giggles briefly consumed Sarah. "They would kick him out within a week. I swear, his favorite question is 'why". They would tell him he had to follow a strict procedure, and he would come up with a better, faster way to do it. They would then order him to follow their procedure, regardless of whether or not his system was faster and better. And he would just sit there saying, 'But why?' until they gave up and shipped him out."

"Hey, I resemble that remark," Chuck added, with an adoring grin sent Sarah's way, that slowly shifted to something slightly apprehensive. Sarah wasn't sure what was going on, but Chuck had been acting slightly off for the last couple of days. She had thought that the was nervous about getting to meet Emma and Molly, even though she had assured him that the two women in Sarah's life would come to love Chuck just as much as she did. But then when her mom and Molly had arrived, Chuck had been his usual outgoing, funny, warm self. Yet, when he looked at Sarah, she could swear he would shift from his usual loving gaze to something with a nervous edge to it. In fact, his hands had been clammy when she had gone into the kitchen to help him put out appetizers before the start of the party.

Chuck had once told her that his hands get moist when he freaked out, but the party was a massive success. Molly was in hysterics at Awesome's story telling, while Ellie beamed at the antics of the two. As expected, Emma would have approved of any man who put her little girl on a pedestal. But Chuck, being Chuck, had quickly won her over in his own right and Emma was thrilled with the outstanding young man who was so clearly in love with her daughter. So, what was Chuck worried about? She watched as he absentmindedly patted his shirt pocket, then wiped both hands nervously on his pants. Sarah hoped that Chuck would be able to relax a little more and just be himself around her mom and sister. There was no need to be nervous.

She led Emma around Chuck's apartment as Ellie and Devon kept Molly entertained in the living room. Emma paused for a moment by a pair of photographs in a hinged frame. The photo on the left was a candid shot of Chuck and Sarah on the beach with the Santa Monica pier off in the distance. Chuck had his arm around Sarah's shoulders and she was leaning in and resting her head on his shoulder. Both were looking out over the ocean, with matching contented smiles on their faces.

The second photograph was taken by an obliging lifeguard on the same section of beach. This picture showed Sarah and Ellie standing together laughing at the antics of Chuck and Devon who were goofing off in the foreground. Emma struggled to keep back tears of joy at seeing her little girl looking both so open and so happy in life. For nothing else, Emma would have loved Chuck for giving her daughter that precious gift that had been missing from her whole life. As it was, she thought that Chuck was absolutely perfect for Sarah, and was so happy to see how his family had accepted Sarah into their fold. She had already seen a couple of occasions where Sarah and Ellie had shared a look and an inside joke, proof of a close friendship independent of Chuck.

Emma had been thrilled, but a bit shocked, when Sarah had proposed this "family" dinner, especially with Sarah's express instructions to bring Molly. It hadn't been that many months earlier when Sarah had dropped off the toddler, and warned that she would have to stay far away from both Emma and the little girl in order to keep them safe.

"Sarah, as wonderful as this is to meet Chuck and your friends, I have to wonder, what changed? Don't get me wrong, I couldn't be any more happy to be here. But how is it that Molly and I get to be part of your life now?"

"Well, mom, we owe that to Chuck," she said as she looped her arm through his elbow as he went to walk past. "He didn't give me any details, but he assured me that there is no way for anyone to possibly connect Molly to Prague."

"Chuck," Emma hesitantly started, "I can't thank you enough for making Sarah so happy, and for having us all together here, but the people hunting for Molly are very dangerous and very determined, not to mention very connected. Are you sure that our tracks are completely covered?"

"Emma," Chuck replied earnestly, "I wouldn't take the chance if I thought that there was any risk to Molly, or to you for that matter. But, as it turns out, San Diego General Hospital has all the records of your pregnancy-check-ups, blood tests, sonograms, ultrasounds. You name it." Ellie shot Sarah a discreet wink as she walked past to refill her wine glass in the kitchen.

Sarah, however, was stunned at the revelation. "You hacked the obstetrician's office? And Ellie was in on it?" With Ellie's medical background it would have been easy for her to educate Chuck on what types of records were needed.

"Umm, yes-kind of," Chuck said as he nervously looked away from Sarah. Emma suspected that Sarah didn't even know how much he had done for her family.

Sarah, however, narrowed her eyes, "Spill." Emma suspected that Sarah had intended her tone to be gruff, but it wound up coming out more awed.

Chuck spat out so fast that Emma had trouble keeping up, "I also hacked into the medical records for the hospital to show the room where Emma stayed, as well as the doctor and nurses in the delivery suite. Then I 'accessed' the billing department records and generated invoices to Emma's healthcare insurance provider for all the pre- and post-natal check-ups and delivery. I then showed payments from the insurance company to the hospital reflecting that there was no outstanding balance."

Chuck paused before once again focusing his attention on the toes of his sneakers, "I also ma-ay have hacked into CalHealth to note the birth certificate for Molly as well as all necessary check-ups and immunizations from birth to present."

Emma and Sarah were stunned at the thoroughness that Chuck had showed. Chuck, however, was oblivious to their reaction as he considered another facet of Molly's "birth". "Do you think that I should access the insurance company records to show receipt of the invoices and payments of the charges? I'd also need to avoid the risk of an audit by creating an offset so that the account balances evened out."

Chuck looked as though he was done with the revelations before perking up again, "Oh, and I went into the school system records to make sure that all the information there tracked with the Health Department records. What else? What else? Oh yeah! Molly also has a legitimate Social Security number now. Well, an illegitimate, legitimate Social Security number. But it's on the official rolls, and no one can tell that it wasn't generated when she was 'born' at San Diego General. Don't worry, Sarah, I back dated all the logs so that the system is convinced that the number was generated at the request of the hospital on the date of her birth. No one will be able to tell that she wasn't born in San Diego, or that the birth certificate isn't correct, or that the Social Security number wasn't created when she was born. I went over everything backwards and forwards, repeatedly. It's all tight."

"How can you do all of that? How could you get into any of those systems without tripping all sorts of alarms? That shouldn't be possible," Sarah practically whispered. Her new job with Lockheed gave her daily exposure to how secure those type of systems were.

"Tell her Chuck," Ellie ordered. "No secrets, no lies."

"Tell me what you're not telling me," Sarah says, almost fearful for what Chuck will say.

"Back in college, I may have done a little hacking. All white hat stuff. I didn't take any money or crash any power grids. More like, I accessed systems kind of like this, then sent the SysAdmin an anonymous note regarding holes in their security. No one got hurt, and no one knew it was me. The Piranha was a bit of a legend among hackers. He came back to life to help out Molly."

Sarah's mind reeled at the information she was hearing. Chuck was casually discussing not only hacking into some seriously secure systems, but altering those systems at the operating level without leaving any trace. If Homeland Security found out about what he did with Social Security, there would be hell for him to pay. If Casey found out, he would conscript Chuck into the NSA in a heartbeat. There were less than a handful of people in the world who could do what Chuck had done, yet he was acting as though it was no bigger a deal than ordering a vegetarian pizza with no olives.

The spy in Sarah was screaming that she had to tell the government about Chuck's skills. If he was that good at penetrating secure US sites, hacking most foreign governments would be child's play for him. He could be a game changer in the world of espionage. But then he would no longer be Chuck, her Chuck. A life-saving game changer in the world of Sarah Walker.

Sarah knew without looking that Ellie was watching her closely, anticipating this intense internal debate. Ellie had likely assisted with the medical records manipulation, directing Chuck in where to go, what to write. She would be implicated too, only she wouldn't hold value to the intelligence community. She would merely be a bargaining chip used to get Chuck to do exactly what they wanted him to do. The implication of that stunned Sarah. Ellie had an amazing career laid out before her, a not ironically awesome husband who was devoted to her. Yet Ellie had risked all of this for Sarah's "sister".

"This conversation never happened. Molly is and always has been my sister," Sarah practically whispered. Her voice might have wavered, but her expression was set. These people had just risked everything for her family. They were now family too. And she would protect them with everything that she had.

With an awkward lull in the conversation, Emma attempted to steer the conversation into safer grounds. She grabbed a small framed photo towards the back of the shelf of a bookcase in the living room. The pre-teen version of Chuck in the picture had mounds of distinctively curly hair atop his head. Ellie was nearby, and seated behind the children were an attractive couple.

"Were these your parents Chuck?" Emma asked, waving the picture in her hands. "I'm guessing from the lack of recent pictures that they are no longer with you? Your mother was a beautiful woman."

Sarah quickly snatched the photo out of her mother's hands, as she hadn't seen the new addition to the collection of pictures spread throughout the apartment. She was eager to learn any details about Chuck and Ellie's parents-especially given the paucity of information in the Secret Service bio on Chuck. Her eyes were drawn to Mary Bartowski, a distant memory trying to warn her of something. The woman in the pictures seemed slightly familiar, but that should be impossible.

"Ah, yes. Ellie was going through some old boxes and came across that. The fact is, Emma, we don't really know if our parents are still living or not. Mom disappeared not long after that picture was taken. That's actually the only photograph we still have of her. She always said that she preferred to be behind the camera instead of out front," Chuck noted as he shared a sad smile with Ellie over the reminiscent detail from their childhood. "Anyway, she disappeared a few days later. Dad was there for several more months before he didn't come home one day either. Ellie and I celebrated our own Mother's Day on the anniversary of the day our mom left us, thinking that we're all we've got and all we need. When Devon came along, we realized that we weren't really all that we've either got or need. We still celebrate the day, but now as a way to remember what family truly is."

Ellie paused while walking over to share a one armed hug with her brother, the still lingering pain of their parents disappearance was always muted with a brother-sister hug. She then looked at Emma with a slightly impish grin, "Emma, is it ok if Molly has a cupcake? And I should tell you that even if you say no, by the look on her face she's going to steal one anyway."

Emma let out a carefee laugh, "Of course it's ok. Although don't be offended if she doesn't eat the whole thing. While I have no doubt that your baking skills are as good as your amazing cooking skills, that little monster likes to just lick off the icing. We're still working on her learning not to put the cupcake back on the tray after she's consumed the frosting, but it's a work in progress."

Everyone laughed, except for Sarah, who frowned as she continued to stare at the picture frame in her hands. Sarah murmured, "Frosting…no…Frost! That's it. Chuck, I met your mom once when I was just starting out at the CIA. I was at Langley to meet with Graham, who was the Director of Operations at the time. He was meeting with your mom when I showed up. He joked with her that I had broken some of her records from the Farm. Frost is legendary at the Agency. Chuck, your mom is a spy!"

Chuck took the picture from her, staring at his parents (normally he did his level best to avoid looking at the picture). "I remember when we were little kids, Mom used to tell us bedtime stories about the adventures of the Frost Queen. I just assumed she was making the stories up in order to get us to agree to get into bed." Chuck went silent for a moment longer, slightly shaking his head. "Mom may have been a spy. But, spy or not, she left us. She may have had her reasons to leave, but in the end she chose job over family."

"It doesn't matter what my parents were, or even the reasons why they left us. The fact is, family sticks together. Ellie and Devon are my family, as is Morgan in his own Morgan-esque way." Chuck paused to wipe his hands quickly along the front of his pants before looking back at Sarah. "And I'm hoping that you, and Emma and Molly by extension, will be part of that family too."

"Sarah, while it's interesting to learn about my mother's past, Ellie and I have always been more focused on the present and the future when it comes to family. Ellie and Awesome are family. As much as Ellie tries to deny it, Morgan is for all intents and purposes family. We have been all we have, and all we need."

"But recently, that has changed. I know that we've only known each other a couple of months, but you have become family too. Ellie totally agrees with me by the way. Before the debate, I was worried because I already knew that I needed you in my life, however much you were willing to be. One of the happiest moments in my life was when you said you were coming to California to work.

"I know that thanks to the Secret Service, you knew all about Jill before you and I even met. What scared me by the time our cheesesteak lunch was over was that I had already realized that when I thought that I was in love with Jill, it was really a pale imitation of love. Back then, I think I was more in love with the idea of being in love than any real feelings I might have had for Jill. I didn't date much in high school, so my heart was pretty inexperienced in these matters.

"But my feelings for you came on so quickly that it was nearly overwhelming. The fact that you reciprocated those feelings seemed unreal, like I must be having a super long, amazingly lucid dream. A woman with your intelligence, dedication, bravery, general badassery not to mention looks having feelings for me still seems like some fairy tale come to life."

"The thing that convinced me that this was real was actually Ellie. She is an amazing judge of character, and before we left Delaware, she told me not to screw this up. She already thought of you as a close friend, and said that she would likely side with you if the two of us broke up, because she's convinced that I'm a bit of an idiot when it comes to women."

Sarah let out a nervous laugh at this, glancing over at Ellie whom she thought of as a close friend as well. The nervousness was over the one sided conversation she was having with Chuck. She had an inkling where the conversation was headed, but couldn't, wouldn't, allow her hopes to get too high, as she still found it amazing that the lanky nerd before her could fall for her-especially after she had told him about her work as Graham's enforcer, without going into specifics on the wheres and whens. If his heart had been inexperienced, hers had been a complete novice.

"I'm going to ask you a question now Sarah," Chuck said as he stood next to the dining room table. He could hear the squeal that Ellie was trying hard to keep in, but kept his focus on Sarah. He was aware of Emma watching them with rapt attention, wondering if he should have checked with her first even though they had literally just met. "I know that it has only been three months since we first met, but any time I think about my future, I see you with me. I've never been happier than I have during these three months, but you will make me even happier if you will be my wife."

Chuck took his rather damp right hand off of hers, while still clutching her hand rather tightly with his left as though he was worried that she might leave. He quickly wiped his hand on his pants before reaching into the chest pocket of his shirt and pulling out a diamond ring. The ring wasn't overly large, or ostentatious, but the diamond was flawless and was surrounded by a ring of dark blue sapphires. Sarah had never seen anything more perfect in her life, until her vision began to blur from unshed tears in her eyes.

"Sarah Lisa Walker, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" Chuck's voice waivered at the end, whether from the depth of his love for her or his nerves at the chance that she might say no.

Sarah opened her mouth to answer, but no sound would come out. She had been to a few weddings (while undercover on missions) and had seen tv shows and movies with women obsessing about being married and their weddings. She had never imagined her own wedding, the ugly duckling from high school and college always having been ignored by boys, and the beautiful woman being scarred by the number of kills she quickly racked up as her CIA career took off.

Sarah was completely caught off guard by the proposal. She knew that she loved Chuck with every part of her being, as he loved her. They worked so well together, and she couldn't have imagined anyone becoming such an integral part of her life. But outside of some random daydreams here or there, she hadn't thought about whether or when Chuck would propose for real. She saw Chuck's hand holding out the ring waver a little bit, and realized that she had been silent for a beat too long.

Sarah saw the panic enter Chuck's eyes as she stayed quiet, hating the fact that she was causing him pain by her inability to speak. Since she was always better with action than words, she decided to play to her strengths. She snatched the ring out of Chuck's hand and crushed him to her in a hug as her tears started flowing and she nodded as hard and as fast as she could. It seemed that her tears were linked to her vocal cords, because as soon as the tears started flowing she got her voice back, "Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes." She choked out as she started laughing in joy. She saw her mother covering her mouth with her hands as tears of joy ran down her mother's cheeks.

A moment later, Sarah heard a piercing squeal as she was quickly enveloped in a bone crushing hug from behind by Ellie. Apparently Awesome, Morgan and Molly had been oblivious to the event taking place just a few feet away until Ellie's shriek of joy. Before long, everyone was wrapped up in a huge group (family?) hug as the celebration began. Molly was thrilled that the big sister who she had rarely seen until recently was so happy. But Molly just about lost her mind when Ellie informed her that when Chuck and Sarah were married that would make Chuck and Ellie Molly's new brother and sister. Molly then let out a shriek of joy that nearly rivaled that of Ellie.

"Bartowski." Chuck's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "The name is going to be Sarah Bartowski."

After the celebration settled down somewhat, Ellie bumped shoulders with Chuck, "Third time's the charm, eh baby brother?"

Emma, while still on cloud nine between the news about Molly's safety and then being present for her daughter's engagement, was confused, "Third time? What am I missing here?"

Chuck tilted his head back and laughed out loud, "The first two weren't really under my control. First Sarah quoted Star Wars, and then Marvel Comics. The nerd in me couldn't help but beg her to marry me on the spot."

Sarah looked very pleased with herself for having playfully tormented Chuck at the beginning of their relationship. Then something dawned on her, "Hey, didn't I warn you that the next time you were supposed to get down on one knee to propose? Disobeying your fiancé already?" _Man it feels good to call myself Chuck's fiancé_.

Chuck got a glint in his eyes, "You are right. Here, you just take off the ring and give it back to me and I'll propose properly."

"No," Sarah practically shouted. "My ring. Mine. Not giving it back."

"Just wait, next thing you know she'll start referring to it as 'my precious.'" Chuck said as he smirked.

Sarah was confused. She assumed that this was another of Chuck's pop culture references that she rarely recognized, but she had no clue as to the context. Ellie, however, looked furious.

"Charles Bartowski," Ellie shouted through clenched teeth as Chuck seemed to shrink into himself. "Tell me that you did not just compare your future wife and my future sister to Gollum!"

"Oh crap," Chuck yelped as he jumped over the sofa to get some room between himself and an irate Ellie.

"Don't worry Sarah. I'll make sure Chuck treats you properly. Sisters have each other's backs. And you, Ms. Molly, this means that we are sisters now too," Ellie said in a much more calm tone.

"Yay," called out Molly, causing everyone to start laughing.

"Damn, bro," Awesome murmured to Chuck. "I thought that you were going to make Sarah a widow before the wedding." He then slapped Chuck on the back as he walked to refill his wine.

* * *

Sarah waited until everyone had settled down, until the last congratulations was uttered, before sitting Chuck down on the sofa and taking his hands in hers-still stunned to see the diamond on her left hand. She thought back to what Ellie had said earlier about no secrets and no lies. "Even before you put this ring on my finger, you were my guy. You're my Chuck. Because you are my Chuck, I can tell that there is more to the Piranha story than you shared with everyone out there. I know there is."

Chuck looked stunned for a moment, before ruefully shaking his head as if remembering that his fiancé used to be one of the top spies the US had fielded. Then he started to get fidgety, which made Sarah's nerves ramp up, even though she kept up a calm façade. Finally, he spoke while staring at a spot on the floor. "I saw how shocked you were at the systems I was able to penetrate and manipulate. And I know that you are very reluctant to discuss your CIA career in any detail. And I get that. I don't know all the things that you have done, nor do I need to. I know who you are today, and everything that you did leading up to today shaped who you have become. I just hate the fact that Graham turned you into an elite assassin."

"But the fact that you have had to do so many hard things in your life, and still managed to become such an incredible person amazes me. I'm in awe of you much of the time, and honestly I don't think that I'm worthy of you. But I love you, and as you seem happy to have me, I'm here. And when you are ready to talk, I am here ready to hear. Not to judge, just to understand you better. But I know who Sarah Walker is. And, every day since our breakfast fundraiser in Philadelphia I keep telling myself that I couldn't possibly love you any more than I already do, and yet every day you prove me wrong by getting me to fall even farther in love with you."

"Which is why I did a little more than I told everyone at dinner. I also access your CIA records. I didn't look at any of your reports, or details on any of your missions. I meant what I said when I said that I'm ready to listen when you are ready to tell me. Until you are ready to tell me, I don't need to know. What I did was get into your personnel file and modified some of the data on your mom. Nothing too obvious, just little details that could seem like transcription errors that were just never caught. Flipping around the dates in her date of birth, and changing the social security number listed for her by one digit. People have become overly reliant on computers-ironic that a tech guy is saying that- and don't double check the data used on searches. By tweaking her details in your folder, it would make it significantly harder for someone like Ryker to track her down. If he's still got access to the CIA database, it won't lead a trail of breadcrumbs straight to your mom and Molly."

Sarah was shocked, and more than a little frightened, that an outsider could penetrate into CIA systems presumed to be sacrosanct. But she wasn't scared that Chuck had read her reports or watched her mission logs. The fact that Chuck had said that he didn't do so was enough for her. She trusted Chuck. She didn't need proof, and even if she did, the fact that he wasn't running away from her in terror was a good sign that he had stayed out. This ability to have blind faith in another was so foreign, yet so exciting. She had never placed blind trust in another before Chuck, but then again she had never fallen in love either. It was fitting that she would experience both with her Chuck.

It was more proof to her how epic an event it had been that Ron Butterfield placed her on Chuck's detail and asked her to be his cover girlfriend. Her life seemed to have a clear dividing point: pre-meeting Chuck and post-meeting Chuck. She vastly preferred her life since she met and fell for the big nerd. She was also amazed at the lengths Chuck had gone in order to protect a woman and a toddler who he hadn't even met at the time. Chuck had done it for her, and it was a clear signal that he felt as strongly for her as she did for Chuck.

Chuck continued, "While I was in the CIA systems, I may have also looked into Ryker. Graham did put a burn notice out on Ryker, but just on his proper name. I accessed Ryker's file and got a list of his known aliases and the passports associated with those aliases. I didn't modify the burn notice. I'm not sure that I'd be able to hack that far into the system. Even if I could, and as much as I despise a man I've never met, I don't think that I could be responsible for issuing a death warrant like a burn notice. I know that Graham already issued one, but if I made it more effective, more likely to lead to Ryker's death, the responsibility would lie with me too."

"Instead, I issued a BOLO through Interpol with a photo of Ryker, and all of his names and passport details. There was already a hit with one of the passports being used recently to gain entry into Thailand. His file indicated that he had a contact named 'The Belgian' who operated deep in the heart of the jungle there. I fed the info on The Belgian and some stolen arms that he has into the system for the Thai Federal Police."

"I would prefer for Ryker to be arrested and face justice for what he did to Molly's birth parents. But if he was comfortable taking shelter with an evil guy who the Thai Police are after, then that is on Ryker if something bad were to happen to him," Chuck concluded.

Sarah took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself before speaking, "Chuck, I'm not going to tell you that you can't go into the CIA database to search for your mom. If you were to make one minor mistake everybody would be hunting for you. The number of layers of security on the systems you've already gone into is staggering. The risk that you could already be in danger terrifies me. The NSA has conscripted hundreds of hackers who were sure they wouldn't get caught. I couldn't count the number of young men and women who walk through the doors each morning at Ft. Meade, punching a clock until their indentured servitude is over."

"You are different. You are doing things those hackers would claim is impossible. Chuck, if the NSA were to catch you, they would dump you in some underground secure bunker in the middle of nowhere and wouldn't let you leave. Best case scenario- you'd never get to see Ellie and Devon, never get to meet your future either niece or nephew that Ellie hasn't told you about," Ellie gasped, causing Sarah to turn and face her. "Really Ellie? Did you forget that your soon to be sister in law was, until recently, a spy? That 'wine' in your glass is sparkling apple cider. And that book that you stashed away in your purse when we went out to dinner last night was a book of baby names."

"Chuck, it is likely, probable even, that the NSA or CIA would hold Ellie's involvement over your head to force you to do their bidding, while coming up with some cover story about your disappearance so that Ellie and Devon would never know where you went."

Chuck was torn. The prospect of finally finding out why their mom left them versus the incredible news that he would be an uncle. And a husband. Then he looked at Sarah, silently gazing into her eyes before sweeping his eyes from person to person before ending with a long look and a grin at Ellie's belly.

"We're all we've got," Chuck said, spreading his arms to gesture to the entire room, including Emma and Molly. "We're all we need."

* * *

Chuck was sitting on the edge of their bed, still marveling over the fact that Sarah Walker had agreed to marry him. He knew, without any doubt, that he loved her and that she loved him. But he still felt luckier than any man had a right to be when she had agreed to be his wife.

"Chuck," Sarah called out from the hallway through the closed bedroom door. He was fairly sure that he heard and "awesome" from Devon followed quickly by a shushing from Ellie and the sound of the front door closing. "I know that you said earlier that we are all that we need, but there is something that I think you need…or at least want."

"Is this one of those show me don't tell me kind of things?" Chuck asked, mostly kidding.

"Hmm, that's a good idea," Sarah replied, still on the other side of the closed door. Chuck was feeling a bit lost at exactly what was going on. "I had picked up a little something for a special occasion," Sarah continued. "And I can't think of anything more special than you proposing to me."

A broad grin spread over Chuck as he tried, once again, to wrap his head around the concept that Sarah was just as excited to marry him as he was to marry her. But her comments made him curious, confused yes, but more curious as to just what she had picked up and why she was talking to him through a closed door.

Just as he was wondering about the closed door, it quickly opened and Sarah stepped into the doorway. At that moment, Chuck died.

 _I must be dead. After all, there is no way that Sarah is standing in the doorway to my bedroom in a full Supergirl outfit unless I have died and gone to heaven. Plus, if I wasn't in heaven, there is no way that she would get her hair and the cape to ripple in the breeze like that when the Morgan door is closed_ (bolted shut after Sarah started spending the night and before any potentially awkward moment that could have resulted in her ending Morgan's very existence).

When Chuck and Morgan had been teenagers, they had solemnly taken an oath: no one but Margot Kidder could be Lois Lane; no one but Carrie Fisher could be Princess Leia; no one but Harrison Ford could be Han Solo or Indiana Jones (Morgan had wanted to add Dr. Richard Kimble, but Chuck was a purist); and no one, but no one, could be Supergirl other than Helen Slater.

 _Guess I'm going to have to break the oath on that last one, little buddy_ , Chuck thought to himself. _Sarah Walker is now, and will forever be, the greatest Supergirl to ever wear the uniform. And she is most definitely both super and a hero, no matter what she is wearing. But especially when she's wearing that outfit, with those boots_.

With a look of awe on his face, Chuck's brain to mouth filter malfunctioned, much to his embarrassment, "Am I to be the damsel in distress that needs to be saved?"

"Well," Sarah drawled out sexily as she slowly strutted into the room and crawled up from the foot of the bed causing Chuck's eyes to bulge in disbelief. "I know for a fact that you are no damsel." Sarah then reached over to run her fingers through his curls, "Although you do appear to be in distress. Let's see if there's anything I can do to save you."

 _Oh boy_.


	14. Chapter 14

EPILOGUE The First: Shaking The Family Tree

A/N: We are near to the end. But in this chapter the whole reason why I thought of a West Wing crossover is (FINALLY) revealed. Originally I had thought that the reason would be in one of the first chapters, but it wound up in the first epilogue. And I fell off of the wagon a bit on the no action plan. But just a bit, and it's mostly implied.

* * *

I hope you enjoy.

The revelation of Chuck's past as a top tier hacker, as well as the lengths he went for Emma and Molly had been quite the shock. Between that and the engagement, Sarah's mind was still reeling the following day. Those two factors, combined with the fact that Sarah had never fallen in love before and never really contemplated being married while a CIA agent, meant that she had had no ideas about the wedding or the wedding dress. Emma and Ellie then decided they should sit down with her and help out with the details. Morgan would show up with Carmichael Industries child friendly videogames to play with Molly. He, shockingly, proved to have quite the skillset as an au pair.

It was at the third such meeting that Sarah had started to feel overwhelmed at the amount of details that needed to be decided, so she had opened up the album beneath the wedding album, which had a photo on the cover of the debate. She had decided give in to the temptation to show off her fiancé to her mom, with the added bonus of distracting the other two women from the overwhelming experience of planning a wedding. Emma suddenly looked as though she had seen a ghost. The doctor in Ellie became alarmed at the sudden pallor in Emma's face. Sarah was freaking out over why her normally unflappable mother now looked to be on the verge of passing out. Sarah looked down at the open page of the photo album that Ellie had brought out.

Ellie had previously broken out the photo album of her wedding to Awesome to get some ideas and recommendations. They had managed so far to pick out the date, venue and floral arrangements (a simple bouquet of gardenias for Sarah while the bridesmaids would have calla lilies). It was when Sarah began flipping through the pictures from the debate, sharing inside stories with Ellie, that her mom's hand had suddenly shot out, stopping Sarah from flipping to the next page in the album.

Sarah looked down at the open page, but nothing seemed unusual or abnormal about the picture. It was a candid shot of Chuck on stage shortly before the debate against Bartlett had begun. Truth be told, it was one of Sarah's favorite pictures of him (at least her favorite that didn't feature the two of them together). The television people had been blocking camera angles and lighting before the start of the debate.

In the photo, Chuck stood behind one podium, with Morgan beside him as they looked over notes on a tablet. Chuck was dressed casually, a pair of dark jeans couple with a button down dress shirt and his ubiquitous Chuck Taylor sneakers. Jed Bartlett (his version of casual attire had been a bespoke suit without the tie) was standing next to his own podium as his campaign advisor (later Vice President) Bob Russell discussed a few last minute pointers with him. Sarah was at a complete loss as to what had so badly spooked her mother.

"Sarah," Emma murmured in a whisper so low that Sarah had to strain to hear her. "Did you speak with him?"

"Who Chuck?" Sarah asked, still thoroughly confused. "No Mom. He was in his crunch time preparations and Casey and I were on high alert for any attempt by Javier Cruz to try to get to Chuck. I mean, I told him that he was going to do great, and to not freak out. Honestly, his hands were so sweaty, I was surprised during the debate that his grip didn't slide right off of the podium. But he did so great," Sarah added with no small amount of pride-or any attempt to hide that pride. "But his focus was on his talking points for the debate, while my focus was on making sure he stayed alive."

Emma couldn't help but show a weak smile as she saw, yet again, how deeply in love her daughter was with this remarkable young man. "No, Sarah. Not Chuck. Your father. Did you speak with your father?" Emma then jabbed her finger at the image of Bob Russell in the corner of the photograph. "His hair has gone a little salt-and-pepper by the temples, but that man right there is Jack Burton. After all of these years, you were right next to your dad."

"My father," Sarah instinctively corrected her mother. "He hasn't earned the right to the title 'Dad'."

Ellie rushed over to wrap Sarah up in a trademark, bone crushing hug, her protective instincts on overdrive. "Sarah, your dad…" Ellie trailed off, noticing the hard gaze that had descended over Sarah's face. Ellie knew that this was the look many a bad guy had seen just before meeting their maker. "Sorry-your father-is the Vice President of the United States. This is huge. You can finally learn about the other half of your family." Ellie shot her a beaming grin, clearly excited about the prospect.

"What am I supposed to do," Sarah mumbled, stunned at the unexpected development.

"I think that it would be a good idea to bring in Chuck," Ellie continued. "But, sweetie, you know he'll back you up, whatever you decide. No questions asked."

* * *

Later on, Chuck was unable to recall any details about his trip home, other than what normally took him 45 minutes to drive only took 20. He remembered being at a production meeting in a conference room at Carmichael Industries and receiving a call from Sarah, who had said, "I need you to come home," in a voice that sounded so lost. The next thing Chuck remembered was the sound of the tires on his car screeching to a halt in the parking lot of the Echo Park apartment complex.

He knew in the back of his mind that he had driven fast, recklessly fast even, but the only conscious thought he had was that Sarah needed him and that he wasn't moving fast enough. He also knew that at some point he would need to apologize to Morgan and the production team for bolting out of the conference room meeting without any explanation. Well, Morgan might not get the apology. Chuck may not have been paying attention to his bearded buddy, but he was pretty sure that as he rushed from the room that Morgan had called out, "Sexting and a little afternoon delight? Me likey." _Yeah, Morgan wasn't getting any apology any time soon_.

* * *

Chuck burst into the living room, barely taking note of Emma seated on the sofa, deep in thought, or of Ellie standing near the dining table, looking giddy with excitement. None of that mattered as he scanned for Sarah. At the sound of the front door crashing open, she had walked from their bedroom, looking both flustered and lost. Her body sagged with relief on seeing Chuck, who immediately scrambled to her side.

"Sarah," Chuck exhaled, his panic over what was wrong with his fiancé easing now that he could see and hold her, although her flustered and lost look was so foreign for her that a new panic started in. "You're all right. Oh, thank god. I mean…are you all right? What's wrong? What can I do?"

Surprisingly, seeing Chuck panicking helped Sarah to focus and prioritize. _Chuck before my father. With Chuck by my side, I can handle this_. "Don't freak out, but Bob Russell is my father. We finally found him."

Hearing Sarah's voice, combined with her resting her hand on his forearm, immediately centered Chuck, stopping his panic attack in its tracks. "Wait. Bob Russell, as in the Vice President, Jed Bartlett's Bob Russell? That Bob Russell is your father? I but thought you were looking for Jack Burton?"

Emma walked up beside her daughter, pulling her into a one armed hug, which Sarah leaned into while maintaining her hold on Chuck's arm. "He's one and the same, Chuck. I'm certain of it. I don't have any proof, mind you. But I'm certain."

"You don't have to prove anything to me Mrs…ah, Emma," Chuck stuttered as Emma had shot him a glare scarily similar to the look her daughter had mastered. Chuck focused back on Sarah, "You finally found him! You found your dad. We have got to go see him. You need to talk to him."

"First of all, why does everyone insist on referring to him as my 'dad'? And what happened to all of the 'We're all we've got, we're all we need' business?" Sarah instantly felt a little guilty for lashing out. She was confused and angry, while Chuck hadn't done anything wrong. She had needed him here, and he had literally dropped everything to be by her side.

"We are all we need, Sarah," Chuck said in earnest. "But the question is: what do you want? You've got family with Emma and Molly, me, Ellie and Awesome. And you will always have us. But do you want to get to know your father? To take a chance and maybe expand that family?"

* * *

As was a fairly common occurrence these days, John Casey was the NSA liaison to the National Security Council. He secretly loathed the duty, away from the field surrounded by REMFs who were perfectly willing to risk anyone's life in order to advance their agenda-anyone's life except their own that is. As his gunnery sergeant in boot camp had pointed out, how can you be expected to lead troops in battle if your entire career was spent behind a desk?"

But he had his orders from General Beckman, and his orders for the day were to be stationed at the White House. It could be worse, he supposed. Bartlett was a tree-hugging liberal who was interjecting the government into every facet of everyone's life (an irony lost on Casey), but he had a strong commander as the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he took Admiral Fitzwallace's counsel seriously. And Casey was impressed with how Bartlett had wanted to punish those responsible for downing the aircraft with his personal physician aboard even though Bartlett had eventually come to see reason from Admiral Fitzwallace about "proportional response". Casey wasn't a fan of proportional response either. He would have advocated crushing those who dared to attack the United States.

Entering the White House through the tunnel access from the Old Executive Office Building, Casey was surprised to see Bartowski and Walker logging in with the Secret Service but well away from the public entrance-indicating that their visit was likely off of the official visitor logs. Walking up to the couple, Casey shook hands with each, congratulating them on the news of their engagement. It wasn't a surprise to Casey. He had seen how they had fallen for each other, though as far as he was convinced in the game of love there were nothing but losers. Maybe these two would be different. Walker had been a helluva agent, although word on the street was that she was doing good work at keeping the secrets locked away in Lockheed's SkunkWorks. _Hmm, maybe the White House should hire her to stop all these damned leaks…Nah, there wouldn't be anyone left here to even answer the phones. Wonder why these two are out here in DC?_

Before heading off to the access get to the subterranean Situation Room, Casey paused to look back at Walker, one last chance to poke the tiger. "It was the bonsai trees, wasn't it? Ladies can never resist a good bonsai tree." As he strode away, he could hear Bartowski laughing while Walker merely said, "Who knows? Maybe Casey's onto something?"

* * *

Given Chuck's request for a private meeting, Jed Bartlett had decided to allow Chuck and Sarah to come up to the residence level of the White House. It was a rare honor, but Bartlett didn't need to know much about Chuck to respect him and to respect his request.

Chuck and Sarah walked into a room filled from floor to ceiling with books stacked neatly into bookshelves. Hundreds of tomes on everything from economics to history to cooking. The room was a mini-library unto itself. It also featured some very comfortable leather chairs and an antique leather sofa that was so comfortable, Chuck could have taken a nap-if it hadn't been for the fact that he was in the White House and was about to tell a bombshell of a secret that could have serious repercussions for the presidency.

Chuck and Sarah had to wait only a few minutes, opting to sit side by side on the sofa, Chuck's presence had a calming effect on Sarah as she thought about meeting her father properly for the first time. Jed Bartlett came in and collapsed down into one of the overstuffed chairs. Before he could speak, a young man in a suit came in and whispered discretely into the President's ear.

Looking from the retreating form of the young man to Chuck and back, Bartlett spoke, "I suddenly feel as though I'm surrounded by Charleses. But neither of you see fit to use the name your parents gave you. My assistant there prefers Charlie, rather than Chuck. He is a fine young man, with one major character flaw-my daughter Zoe likes him," the President grumbled at the end.

"Forgive me Mr. President…" Chuck began.

"We're alone here Chuck, well the Secret Service is watching a video feed-but there's no audio. You can call me Jed."

"Shame you don't choose to go by the name your parents gave you," Chuck countered with a smirk, surprising Sarah with his cheek.

President Bartlett tilted his head back with a quick laugh. "Touche, Chuck. Touche."

"Before we get to the reason for our visit," Chuck continued, "can I just ask how your daughter liking your assistant is his character flaw?"

"When you have a daughter, you'll understand," Bartlett said in an ominous tone. "He's an exceptional young man, but he's still a man." The President paused with a hard look. "And she will always be my little girl."

"Yes, sir," Chuck responded with a slight smile.

"Speaking of women," Bartlett continued while extending his hand towards Sarah, "congratulations on your engagement Ms. Walker. You've found yourself a rare species. A truly honorable man who was involved in politics. And, from what Ron Butterfield tells me, my congratulations to you Chuck. Ron was very impressed with Ms. Walker here when she was on his detail, and he is an excellent judge of character." The President turned his head to the side as he grumbled, "Even if he does think that I should allow Zoe to go on a date with Charlie."

"Thank you, Mr. President," Sarah responded.

"Please, it's Jed," Bartlett said with an exaggeratedly pained expression. "I have enough people around here kissing my rear end at every opportunity. I would be grateful if this conversation could be a bit different."

"Now, Chuck, you indicated that you and Ms. Walker had some very sensitive information that you wanted to convey only to me. I'm afraid that given my schedule I have little time today, or pretty much any day, but the next ten minutes are yours. Proceed."

Chuck reached over, squeezing Sarah's hand in a show of support for her to take the lead.

"Jed, I was raised by a single mother. When she was in college, she met a young man while on spring vacation. She instantly fell in love, and they weren't as careful as they thought they were being. But the man disappeared before she found out she was pregnant. She searched and searched, but realized that the name he had given her, Jack Burton, was just an alias. She never knew his real name, or where he was from."

Sarah paused for a moment, wondering how the next bit of information would shape the lives of all three in the room moving forward. "Recently my mother was up in LA to help plan the wedding," Sarah admitted with a blush.

"Ah, yes," Bartlett said with a grin. "It was one of Abby's favorite activities as well. It was not a favorite activity for my bank account. Nothing but the best for her girls."

"Yes, sir. My mother does seem to want everything to be perfect. The thing is, on her last visit, I was showing my mother some pictures from the debate-I needed a break from the planning, if I'm being honest."

Chuck let out a broad grin, and gave her a kiss on the cheek that instantly made Sarah feel better and more confident.

"When we were looking through an album, she spotted Jack Burton. Recognized him immediately, and without any doubt." Sarah heaved a sigh as she prepared to unveil the secret, "the man is Vice President Russell. Chuck did some digging as well," Sarah said, being deliberately evasive about the type of searches, "and we are certain that during his college years and early twenties, Bob Russell used the alias of Jack Burton. Vice President Russell is my father."

"We're not going public with this. He's got a right to know he has a daughter, and an amazing woman at that. And she has the right to meet her father. They are family. That is to be cherished, not spread across the tabloids," Chuck stated, firm in his convictions. Sarah once again marveled over the fact that this amazing man was committing himself to her for the rest of their lives.

"You really don't get the gritty side of politics do you? That's actually a good thing. You're an honorable man Chuck Bartowski. Bob Russell is a good man at heart. But he's also a shrewd political operator. And right now he would only see the two of you as a threat. You going public with this would destroy what he's spent his whole career building up. Give him some time and he won't see a threat. He'll see a remarkable young woman he can be proud to call a daughter. I'll help him along the way. Frankly I can't imagine my life without my girls in it. They are what makes me want to make this country a better place. Bob will come to see that."

Bartlett exhaled loudly, as he looked up to the ceiling. "I appreciate the two of you being as discreet as you have been. Things are a bit tense for the Vice President at the moment. There appears to be a whisper campaign out to discredit him. The chief of staff for a senior senator overheard a comment casually dropped in the hallway of the Russell Senate Office Building the other day. The comment was designed to subtly smear the character of Bob. The chief of staff has been on Capitol hill for a long time, and found the comment to be a calculated attack on the Vice President."

"The gentleman is also a long time tennis partner of my chief of staff, Leo McGarrity. Leo told me of the concern the same day that your friend, Ron Butterfield, remarked to me that the Secret Service was aware of some strange chatter about the Vice President and a hint that a longtime DC insider was being groomed to take over the Vice Presidency."

"I have asked General Beckman of the NSA to quietly look into the matter. I believe that the agent she assigned is the same one who worked with you, Ms. Walker, on the threat against Charles here. A Major John Casey. Ron Butterfield told me that, until recently, you were with the CIA, but little else Ms. Walker."

"I wouldn't feel offended sir. I'm engaged to her and she tells me nothing of mission specifics," Chuck said, but with a smile that took any sting out of his words.

"It's unlikely that she ever will. When I won the general election, I received a briefing from the intelligence services, including the CIA. If you ever want to sleep soundly at night, I would recommend against becoming the President and receiving such a briefing. But one point that was hammered home hard was that 'need to know' wasn't just a guideline. It is a mantra in the intelligence community. Breaking the rule could result in an entire spy ring being caught and executed."

"Not long ago a story became public about a CIA officer who set up an incredibly effective spy ring in the early years of Fidel Castro's reign. This officer's agents were the first to learn that the Soviet Union was installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. Folks in the CIA headquarters and here at the White House kept rejecting the information as preposterous. The officer and his spies kept gathering the information, finally getting to the point where the White House relented in resuming U2 flights over Cuba-which had been shut down for months. They were told exactly where to look, and when they looked they got pictures of the missiles that everyone had said couldn't possibly be there. The history books for decades credited the U2 flights with breaking the news that started the Cuban Missile Crisis."

"The reason for this story, Charles, is that the CIA officer who was actually responsible for developing the intel never complained, never told anyone aside from his immediate supervisor about what information he had learned. The reason for his silence was the 'need to know' mantra. His closest friend at the Agency wound up rising to the level of Deputy Director, Operations, yet his friend only found out about the officer's achievement after his death when another member of the team complained about the lack of recognition for the man. His closest friend was the top CIA officer for every operation being run by the Agency, yet this man never spoke of his achievement to the DDO, as there was no need for him to know. Don't take it to heart, son, and never hold it against her."

"Well, as much as I enjoy our discussions, Charles, unfortunately I need to get to my next meeting. I will make arrangements for the three of us to meet with Bob privately in order to discuss this matter. I agree with Charles, here, Ms. Walker. Family is to be cherished. And if the man is indeed your father, he has a right to get to know the remarkable daughter that he doesn't know he has."

* * *

So far in the three weeks following the meeting in DC there had been no word from the President regarding the time and place for Sarah to meet her father. But both Sarah and Chuck put their trust in Jed Bartlett that he would be true to his word and make the arrangements. Chuck was home alone, a rare event, with Sarah and Emma off doing one type of wedding preparation or another, with Ellie pulling an overnight shift at Westside. Chuck had offered to help out, but usually found that his help wasn't so helpful. As a result, he got to sit this particular event out. As he wasn't expecting any one home for an hour or more, the knock at the door surprised him. When he opened the door, what he saw surprised him even more.

"Hi Chuck, do you think I could come inside for a moment. I'd like to talk."

 _Maybe I'm asleep. Maybe this is some horrible nightmare triggered by the fast food I ate at lunch today_. Despite his intentions, his ingrained politeness had Chuck stepping aside before his brain caught up to his body. _Ellie, that was one lesson you would regret emphasizing when you hear about this_.

"I saw in the news that you were getting married. I had to come see you right away. I know you, Chuck," Jill said, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. "You still love me, and I love you. I made a mistake, a big one. And it is a mistake that I regret every single day. I am so, so sorry for what I did. But I want to give us another chance." She looked at him, silent in her pleading as she waited for his reaction. When it didn't come quickly enough, she decided to prompt it. "What do you say, Chuck? Will you give us another chance?"

"I am in love with somebody," Chuck said after finally finding his voice. "But it's not you." Chuck turned and walked to the far side of the room, needing as much distance from Jill as he could. "I know you cheated on me-hell, the whole world knows that you cheated on me. But I owe you an apology."

Jill was confused. _He is saying that he was in love with someone else, but also owes me an apology? Was he cheating on me the whole time that I was cheating on him? Unlikely given that this is Chuck, but if so I can use that guilt to my advantage_. Her face showed her confusion and uncertainty. Unbeknownst to her, the look of confusion and uncertainty was mirrored on another face that had heard the voice and snuck into position outside of the window. Sarah started to ease her favorite throwing knife out of its sheath strapped just below the base of her neck. She was going to teach Jill that Chuck was now, and always would be, taken. It was a lesson that Sarah looked forward to teaching.

 _But why does Chuck owe her anything, much less an apology_?

"The truth is," Chuck finally said. "I never should have proposed to you in the first place. I realize now that I was never really in love with you in the first place. I think it was more that I was inexperienced in the ways of love, and conflated the idea of being in love with actually experiencing love. I had nothing to compare my feelings to. But I've met someone, and now I know what it truly means to be in love, to be committed mind, body and soul to another. I would step in front of a bullet a hundred times over in order to make sure that she wouldn't get hurt."

"You and I never had that Jill," Chuck said with a passion that shocked and saddened Jill as she realized that she was much farther behind in the chase than she had imagined. "It was wrong of me to try to force that on us."

"Oh," Chuck continued, finally turning to look his former fiancé in the eyes. "Jill, while I know that Sarah is an amazing person, she does have a skill when it comes to dispensing violence. While you cheated on me, and left me emotionally crippled for months, I don't necessarily want to see you dead. I'm afraid that I couldn't say the same for Sarah. Not only would she be happy to see you dead, she is far more than capable of achieving that particular end."

Sarah eased the knife back into its scabbard. The emotional dagger that Chuck had just plunged into Jill had caused enough damage-for now at least.

Jill walked out of Chuck's apartment and started to head to the archway to get back to her car. She had been so confident that Chuck would take her back after a few crocodile tears and pleading eyes. He had always been a soft touch, something that she had despised during their dating and engagement. Her Uncle Bernie had taught her from a young age that if a person wants to succeed, to make a name for themselves, they must be focused and ruthless.

That was why she was having an affair with her boss. The man was neurotic as hell, but he was also putty in her hands. In exchange for sex, she had repeatedly been promoted over other more experienced and more qualified co-workers. She never understood why Chuck overreacted the way he did. It wasn't like she had any real feelings for LaFleur. Hell, she hardly had any real feelings for Chuck. The business with her boss was just that—business. Chuck would come to see that eventually. It would just take a little more work. All she had to do was to make sure that he didn't marry this interloper in the the meantime.

Jill heard a slight whistle as something sped through the air past her ear a moment before a light thunk could be heard from the tiki torch next to the archway. She looked to her right and saw a gleaming silver knife embedded in the torch, still vibrating slightly from the impact.

"I'm going to have to disagree with my fiancé about something," Sarah said in a cold, emotionless voice that scared the crap out of Jill. Her tone and her casual stance screamed out that she was a dangerous woman perfectly at home with violence. "I don't feel the least bit sorry for you. I do, however, agree with him about my skill at doling out pain. I practically made it into an art form. But I'm not going to do that to you, tonight at least. Think of this as your Get Out Of Jail Free pass. If you ever try to contact Chuck again, I will teach you what the word pain really means." The whisper of a grin freaked Jill out even more than the terrifying speech.

Sarah strode past the gawking Jill, pulling out her throwing knife without breaking stride as she headed into the apartment to her Chuck. Jill turned and ran to her car, fumbling her keys in her hurry to unlock the door. As she was straightening up after retrieving the keys, she muttered, "That goddamned psycho could have killed me!"

Suddenly she was slammed face first into her car door. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw auburn hair flowing like fire as the woman who had attacked her completed her spinning roundhouse kick. "Trust me. If Blondie wanted to kill you, you'd be dead before you even knew she was there. And you wouldn't be the first to learn that particular fact." The woman was strikingly beautiful, but her eyes had a feral look to them as she stared at Jill with contempt.

Jill had no more time to think anything more than "I'm in trouble" before a fist was slammed up into her solar plexus, driving the air from her lungs as she fell to her knees yet again. An equally beautiful brunette had appeared out of nowhere at Jill's side, looking just as furious as the redhead. Judging by her punch, she was also just as capable at causing pain. "If you were dumb enough to break Chuck's heart, you might be dumb enough to ignore Sarah's warning. So we're going to make sure that the point gets…hammered home."

Two minutes later, Zondra and Carina were sitting in Zondra's BMW M6, touching up a few stray hairs that had come out of place. Neither had even broken a sweat in the lesson taught to Chuck's ex. They still had plenty of time to head over to Zondra's place to freshen up and change into appropriate attire before heading to the grand opening for Club Ares. Sarah had declined the chance to join them in their night out, instead opting to stay in Burbank. Or Yawnsville as Carina had taken to calling it.

"Probably best if we don't mention this to Chuck and Sarah," Zondra mentioned as they drove away from the Echo Park complex.

"Oh, I don't know," Carina responded. "Walker would probably appreciate the touch of throwing Jill into the dumpster. That way she not only gets to wake up with a concussion, but to the smell of trash as well."

* * *

The following morning saw Carina strolling through the same archway into the courtyard of Echo Park, still decked out in her club attire from the night before. Sarah was standing beside the water fountain, laughing at something that Ellie had just told her.

"Well, well. Look at what the CAT dragged in," Sarah drawled in good humor.

"That was terrible, Walker. Even for you," Carina deadpanned in response.

"You may as well get used to saying Bartowski," Sarah retorted, causing a huge grin to erupt on Ellie's face and a grimace on Carina's. "It's going to be my name soon. Not soon enough, but soon. And there's no chance of it going back to Walker."

"You are seriously going to go by just one name for the rest of your life? And Bartowski at that? No offense," Carina causally waived in Ellie's direction. But Ellie was too thrilled at Sarah's statement to take offense at the words of a stranger. "That is so boring. It's like if a yawn could yawn. Which is kind of perfect for this place," Carina said as she cast a less than impressed glance around the courtyard.

"You do realize that 99.9% of the population only goes by one identity?" Sarah countered.

"I always knew I was special. 0.1%. I like it. Come on. Let's go meet this albatross who is dragging you down from the life of spying."

Sarah reluctantly led Carina over to the apartment, hoping against hope that Carina would behave herself once she actually met Chuck. Her wishing was in vain.

"Well, Chuckie. Maybe I should take you for a spin so that I can see what has Walker here ditching our world to be with you," Carina said in a sultry tone while strutting towards Chuck as if she was on a catwalk in Milan. Rather than being upset, Ellie looked to Sarah to see how she would react to her friend's statement.

"Try it and I'll rip you limb from limb from limb," Sarah growled out, unable to keep from rising to the bait that Carina had laid out.

"Well, by my count that would leave me with at least one good limb. That should be enough to rock Chuck's world. What do you say stud?"

"I don't get it," Chuck said while looking at Carina in complete confusion. "Aside from turning the guy-me in this scenario- from a partner to a mere object, why would you do that to Sarah? Deliberately betray her trust like that?" By now Chuck was looking less confused and more put out by Carina's come on.

"Is he for real," Carina muttered to Sarah.

"He's better than real. He's Chuck. More precisely, he's my Chuck." Sarah glowed with pride at how her fiancé had so effortlessly put Carina in her place. Ellie vibrated with happiness over how in love her friend was with her brother, and was beaming at how far Sarah had come in being comfortable at expressing her emotions.

"You know," Sarah continued, "Ellie was just telling me about the sight she saw when she got home after her overnight shift at the hospital. Apparently Chuck's ex, Jill, was crawling her way out of a trash dumpster sporting a broken nose, two black eyes, and a rotten banana peel stuck to her hair. With you in town, it suddenly makes more sense. Come on, we need to hurry if we are going to pick up Zondra and go to the dress fitting."

"Are you sure you want to marry a guy who dated dumpster diving women?" Carina asked with a completely straight face.

Ellie started laughing hysterically," You and I are going to get along just fine."

"And this is," Carina gestured back towards Ellie while looking at Sarah.

"That is Ellie," Sarah replied. "my soon to be sister." Her smug grin triggered a bone crushing hug from Ellie. _You'd think that by now I'd anticipate those_. _Well, I've got the rest of my life to get used to them_.

A/N 2: Gary Cole as both Jack Burton and Bob Russell. The original spark of an idea was for Bartwoski/Grimes versus Bartlett/Russell but with Sarah still as on temporary duty from the CIA to Secret Service. If you've gotten this far in the story, you know that is not remotely how the story wound up evolving. One last installment to go. It's mostly written, but I have no idea at this point if it's going to be ready in a week. That is still the goal. Also, I stole a line from a song by Halestorm in this chapter. It was paraphrased slightly, but it was perfect for the moment.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N 1: For those who have enjoyed the story, the good news is that we are wrapping up with a very long goodbye. For those of you who haven't enjoyed the story…I don't really know why you would have kept reading to this point. Without further ado…

* * *

EPILOUGE The Second

"What is this? Some attempt to discredit me? Blackmail? Ruin my marriage, my family?" Russell raged when President Bartlett disclosed the purpose of the meeting as the four met in the conference room of the main residence at Camp David three weeks after the White House meeting between Chuck, Sarah and the President. "I've got a wife and kids. You ruin that, I ruin you." He was glaring daggers at Chuck and Sarah, although he should be grateful that the Secret Service did not allow any weapons to be present as his newly revealed daughter was far more skilled with daggers (and any other type of weapon) than he was.

Sarah was livid with the accusations. He knew nothing about her, yet he instantly went on the attack. _So not getting my vote for father of the year_. Her fists unconsciously balled up at her side as she menacingly stepped forward. Chuck instantly positioned himself between her and her father, although he did it to protect her, not to block her, furious over the attack on his fiancé.

"Bob," Bartlett calmly said. "I'm only going to say this to you once, so you might want to pay attention. First, Ms. Walker-soon to be Mrs. Bartowski -Ms. Walker used to be Agent Walker, the best CIA agent we had until Langston Graham lost control of his shop and Chuck here showed up on the scene. A lot of her work was in black ops. Much of her work is classified higher than your clearance level, Bob. Probably not a good idea to threaten her."

"When there was an assassin trying to get to Mr. Bartowski here during our debate, Agent Butterfield went to the CIA specifically to get her temporarily assigned to the Service in order to protect Chuck. By the way Ms. Walker, Ron requested that I give you his regards. He still holds you in very high esteem. If he thinks you are good, then I know without a doubt that you are the best. Thank you, by the way, for keeping Chuck safe. He's a good man. Once again, I'd like to extend my congratulations to you both on your engagement. I hope that you have a long and wonderful life together. I also hope that Abby and I might merit an invite to your nuptials, regardless of how this meeting turns out? However, I have high hopes for Bob and Sarah."

"You believe this crap, Jed?" Russell said, spinning to face the President. "Someone tries to spread lies on the Hill about me and now you find a convenient patsy to claim that she's my long lost daughter so that you can push me out? Is that what this is?"

"My name is Sarah Walker, and my mother is Emma Walker. Twenty eight years ago she was on spring break from college when she met another college student named Jack Burton." Sarah paused for a beat as silence filled the room. Russell stopped glaring at her and started to wonder if the young woman before him might actually be his daughter.

Bob Russell had deflated when he had heard the name Jack Burton. He collapsed back into the sofa when he saw the picture of Emma Walker. She had been rather unforgettable, but that was back before the days of cellphones, email, snapchat when there was the ability to instantly share contact information. Plus he had already been using the Jack Burton alias before he realized that there could be far more to their relationship than just a fling over spring break, so he had needed to give her his real name. He realized at that moment that Sarah Walker was indeed his daughter. There would be no need for any dna/paternity testing.

Another silence spread over the room, followed by a discrete knock at the door and Ron Butterfield came in to whisper in President Bartlett's ear. The President nodded his thanks to Ron, who just as discretely left the room as he had entered it.

"My apologies, but there is a crisis in the Far East that is threatening to become a flash point for a far larger problem. We'll need to take a ten minute break while I make a phone call or two." Jed Bartlett then made his way out of the door as the three others stood silent, with the width of the room separating one from the other two.

"Sarah, why don't we take a moment to go for a stroll outside," Chuck said, ignoring Bob Russell as his focus remained entirely on his fiancé and how she was handling the stress of the tense meeting. Sarah gave a quick nod, slanting her eyes briefly across the room to Bob Russell who sat staring out of the window, running one hand after another through his hair.

* * *

Chuck and Sarah strolled from the cabin down a mulch covered walking path that lead to a copse of birch trees. Sarah had her fingers woven through Chuck's (as was normally the case whenever they were together) as they walked aimlessly down the trail.

"This pretty much has to be a nightmare scenario for the Vice Pres- for my father," Sarah corrected herself, still struggling to believe that after all of these years she had finally found him.

"How so," Chuck asked, completely confused by the statement.

"He has one of the most high profile jobs in public office. He is married with children, but just discovered that he had a child out of wedlock while partying under an alias in a foreign country. Oh, and his adult daughter is a former spy who specialized in black ops- including assassination missions-and who now works for a major defense contractor," Sarah concluded with a huff. She rested the side of her head against his chest as Chuck pulled her into a Bartowski special hug.

"First," Chuck said after planting a kiss on the crown of her head. "He should be amazed at the fact that he is related to the most incredible woman in the world."

"You are incredibly sweet," Sarah replied with a wry grin. "Completely biased as you are engaged to me. But incredibly sweet."

"Oh, I am 100% biased," Chuck responded. "But that doesn't mean that I am not also 100% correct. Bias or no, you are one incredible lady. Intelligent, caring, fluent in more languages than I can count- and might I say it was amazing, and completely sexy, how fast you learned to speak Klingon. I'm guessing that was pretty much just for my benefit, huh?" Sarah just smirked and bounced one shoulder, pulling him closer as they continued down the path. It never ceased to amaze her at how good Chuck was at making her feel better.

"Ron Butterfield told me after the debate how good you had been on the Secret Service detail," Chuck continued on, pleased to see that Sarah's scowl was gone. "Your new boss at the Skunkworks is already amazed at the job you have done. But you are mistaken about your time with the CIA. I know that sometimes you had to use lethal force, and that some of those times it wasn't in self-defense. But, not only were those missions approved at the highest levels, the work was done in the shadows meaning that no one but your boss knew the hero that you truly were."

"I may not know the details of your missions, but your saving Molly and hiding her from everyone would have been proof on its own that you are not only a hero, but a fundamentally good person. If you need more proof than that, I can give you the names of three people who I respect you, but each of whom looks up to you: Ron Butterfield, John Casey and Zondra Rizzo. None of them would respect someone who was nothing more than a hired gun. Especially Ron in his line of work."

"Ron has an incredible amount of respect for you," Chuck proceeded without slowing down in the slightest. "He had incredible respect for you as an agent, and just as much respect for you as a person. He congratulated me on our engagement, and noted that I was a lucky man to win the heart of a person as special as you. Do you think that he would say that, or have that level of respect for you, if you were a killer? That he would say that for some hired gun? And this is a man that did read your files."

"Then there is Casey. The trip to Longwood was his idea, not something he would do for someone that he did not think highly of- not that I would have necessarily expected it to be something that he would do even for someone that he did respect. But he did it for you, even bringing Ellie along to make sure that it went smoothly. And the level of respect that he has for you is clear."

"Finally, there is Zondra. She worked hand in hand with you, so you can't claim she didn't know what you did at the Agency. And her respect for you is unmistakable- and a bit scary. First time we met, she told me, 'Hurt her and I end you. Clear?' And let me tell you, that message was received clearly. But then she smiled and kissed me on the cheek while slapping, er tapping, firmly tapping the other cheek with her hand. She knows firsthand some of the things that you were called on to do in order to protect our country, and she thinks that you are as incredible as I do."

"So, there is no question in anyone's mind that you are incredible. Now, this is DC- well, this isn't technically DC, it's Camp David, but we know that our Capitol is not reknown for keeping secrets. But right now the only people who know who you truly are you, me, your father and President Bartlett. Your mom, Ellie and Awesome all know but they all love you and would never do anything that would hurt you. So there isn't any need to worry about your relationship- if you decide to have one, with your father becoming public knowledge."

"What you need to decide is whether you want to have a relationship with Bob Russell as your father or not."

Sarah stared silently in the direction of a copse of beech trees. "What happened to 'We're all we've got, we're all we need'?"

"You have what you need," Chuck instantly responded. "Your mom and sister love you. Ellie is convinced that the sun rises and sets at your command. Devon is amazed to have found a fellow extreme sports enthusiast who is a more gifted athlete than he is. Seriously, I keep waiting for him to draw up a pre-nup that stipulates that in the event of a divorce he legally gets to remain part of your family."

"I know you are teasing," Sarah growled in a manner eerily familiar to Casey. "But that had best be the last time I ever hear the words pre-nup or divorce come out of your mouth."

Chuck simply smiled. "You have what you need, Sarah. A family that loves and adores you, without question. You have a fiancé who loves you without doubt- well, maybe there's a smidge of doubt as to your sanity for falling for a gigantic nerd like this guy," Chuck said as he popped two thumbs and pointed to his chest while grinning goofily.

But then his smile was replaced with a serious look as Chuck stepped up close to Sarah, taking her hands in his. "The question isn't what do you need. The question is what do you want? Do you, Sarah Walker, want a relationship with your father? Maybe one day to be able to call him dad?"

* * *

Now that he had cooled off, and had begun to accept the fact that the young woman he had barely paid attention to during the debate was his daughter with his first true love, Bob Russell stood to take stock of his daughter as she re-entered the room on her own. Once the names Jack Burton and Emma Walker had been dropped, he had realized that that the young woman was his daughter and not some con-artist out to either blackmail him or destroy his career.

He was now surprised that he did not recognize her earlier. She was the spitting image of Emma Walker from 28 years earlier. Russell had few regrets in his life. His career had taken him to the second most powerful position in the land. He had a loving wife and two children who had been remarkably unaffected by their father's political ambitions and the privileged life they were raised in. But losing Emma Walker was a regret. A big one.

Turning away from Sarah to stare out of the window without really seeing anything on the other side of the glass, Russell slowly began to speak, "When I was growing up, my parents- your grandparents- were a successful, high profile couple. My father was worried that any stories about me 'sowing wild oats', as he used to say, might be damaging to their careers. But he still wanted me to have fun at college. His solution was for me to use an alias-Jack Burton- when off from school on vacation. So, my senior year of college, I headed off to Cancun with some buddies for Spring Break."

"My hotel room reservation was under the name Jack Burton, and a friend had even made me a Jack Burton fake id. I was off to have fun before finishing up college and starting an internship that my parents had already arranged for me," Russell said as he traveled back through the mists of time to one of his fondest, yet most painful, memories. "I had already been in Cancun for three days when I met your mom. We instantly connected. It seemed a bit surreal at the time. We were inseparable from minute one. But to the hotel, and my buddies who knew of the arrangement with my parents, I was Jack Burton. My friends had always called me Jack in front of Emma."

"So there I was- already with strong feelings for your mom, for Emma, but already living a lie. I was trying to figure out how to tell Emma the truth without destroying what we had already built up between us in the process. One of the problems was, when I was with Emma I liked being Jack Burton-just a regular kid among thousands there. But the longer I stalled in telling her the truth, the more I was convinced that she would be hurt, betrayed by the initial lies. I had finally decided to just come clean with her and beg for forgiveness. She and I were to meet up for brunch, and then I had a walk on the beach planned where I would come clean. Tell her the truth."

"The problem was, that night my folks called up and flew me home as my grandmother had fallen and was in the hospital. She wound up passing away while I was on the red-eye flight home. All I knew about getting in touch with Emma Walker was her name and her hotel. I had scribbled out a note to her, basically admitting to my true identity, giving her my phone number and begging her to call me if she could forgive the deception."

Sarah had been listening to the story of star-crossed lovers with rapt attention, soaking in the details while scrutinizing Bob Russell's every move, every inflection, searching for any sign of deception. But at the mention of the note, her eyes turned cold and hard as the Ice Queen surged to the fore. Here was the deception that she had been on guard for. With his back to the room, Bob Russell continued on with his tale, unaware of the change in his daughter.

"By the time I got back to school after the funeral, my friends all thought I was down because of my grandmother's passing. The truth was, as much as I loved my grandmother, I was hurting more from the fact that your mom hadn't called than I was from my grandmother's death. After a couple of weeks went by, I convinced myself that your mom must have been too hurt by the deception to forgive me and call me. It was a couple of weeks more before I discovered the truth-my idiot friend had dropped off the note at the wrong hotel. I spent years wondering 'what if', and comparing every woman I met to your mom. She never knew that what I felt was real. She never knew my real name or how to reach me. I never knew that we had created you."

The Ice Queen retreated as Sarah considered the explanation. Jack/Bob hadn't noticed her reaction before his explanation. And his excuse was credible- helped by facts that were easy to check out, especially for an ex-CIA agent who was engaged to one of the world's most elite hackers. It would be foolish of him to offer such details if they wouldn't check out. And Bob Russell was no one's fool.

Sarah then thought about Chuck, and what he would suggest. Despite being abandoned by his own parents, Chuck would encourage her to take the chance. That had been his theme on the flight from LA to DC. She could verify what Jack/Bob had claimed, but she could give him the benefit of the doubt until (or unless) he was disproven. Sarah realized how much she had changed after spending time with Chuck and his family. She liked this new Sarah far more than she did the Ice Queen.

The added benefit was that there was a whole new side of her family to discover, including a brother and sister. Eventually that would lead to the introduction of Molly, but thanks to Chuck that would be an easier, simpler event. All of her childhood answers and insecurities could finally be answered.

"I'll admit that there is a part of me that is glad things worked out as they did. I love my wife and have two great kids- three great kids apparently, although you are hardly a kid anymore. And as much as I regret missing out on what could have been between me and Emma, that's nothing compared to the regret of not having been there when you were born, when you were growing up. So much time lost," Bob choked out as the emotions that had been swirling inside of him beat against his barriers of self-control.

Sarah thought about her parents, whom fate had kept apart. Then she thought about how fate had thrust her and Chuck together, when there had been so many opportunities for their story to have taken a different path: if the debacle with Ryker hadn't caused Graham to pull her from the field just in time for Ron Butterfield to come along with his request for her services; if Ron hadn't known of her experience with Cruz, coupled with his personal history with Graham to enable her temporary assignment to the Secret Service; if Ron hadn't suggested the cover relationship and then turned a blind eye to the undercover relationship; if Chuck had reacted the way anyone other than a Bartowski would react to the truth about parts of her CIA career; if Ellie hadn't been so encouraging of their relationship or encouraging her own friendship with Sarah; if Zondra had found her a job after the election somewhere other than Southern California. So many opportunities for their relationship to fail, separate and apart from her own lack of dating experience.

Sarah thought about what her life would be like if she had returned to the CIA, never to see Chuck again after Cruz had been captured. If her father (dad?) felt for Emma a tenth of what she felt for Chuck, he deserved not only her forgiveness, but her sympathy. With that, her decision was made.

"We should get back to the room," Sarah finally spoke. Jack/Bob turned to look at her, clearly curious to see where her head was after his confession. "Chuck is much better than me at dealing with emotional issues. Plus," she paused, building up the courage to commit to the path forward that she knew she had to, and wanted to, take going forward, "I think it is time that you were properly introduced to your future son-in-law."

* * *

"I have the greatest job in the world," Jed Bartlett said to the reporters thronging along the rope. "Unfortunately, that often requires that I put the affairs of state ahead of personal commitments. As all of you know, after our debate, Charles Bartowski and I became good friends. And as much as I would enjoy watching him get married to an incredible young lady, I won't be able to attend. I've asked Bob Russell and his family to attend in place of me and Abby. Bob has graciously agreed to do so. Abby wasn't so gracious when I told her of the change of plans." Bartlett's eyebrows raised up at the end of his statement, contrasting with his deadpan delivery.

There was a smattering of laughter from the press pool as the President turned to walk up the stairs onto Air Force One. As soon as the door closed, Ron Butterfield moved into step beside the President as he made his way to the personal quarters on board the plane.

"That was rather clever, Mr. President," Butterfield quietly said as they moved down the aisle. "Now there won't be any suspicion about Russell's attendance."

"It should be clever," Bartlett acknowledged, "it was Chuck's idea and a damn good one at that. Wish I'd thought of it first. Oh, and be sure to take lots of pictures while you are there. You are going too, as a guest of the bride. Her idea, also a damned good one. Since Abby is rather disappointed about missing the wedding, the pictures had better be good."

"As you wish, Mr. President. I'll see what I can do to keep you in your wife's good graces," Ron said with a slight grin that earned him a glare followed by a nod from the President.

The President was just closing the door to the sleeping compartment, when he stopped and looked back at the head of the White House Secret Service detail, "Don't think that I never figured out your role in getting those kids together. Always pretending to be so formal, ya big softie." Bartlett was chuckling as he closed the door and went to explain (again) to Abby why it wasn't possible for her to attend the wedding even with him pretending to be occupied. It was a futile endeavor, he knew, but one he still had to make.

* * *

A flock of seagulls floated in the breeze above the gently rolling waves a little ways north of the Santa Monica pier. Aside from a few puffy white clouds dotting the distant horizon, the sky was a crystal blue. Given the brilliant sunlight, it wasn't surprising that the two men positioned near a lone palm tree were wearing dark sunglasses. What was surprising was the fact that both men were wearing identical dark grey suits, both with an American flag pin in the lapel, and that both men had an ear piece in their right ear with a coiled white wire snaking down the starched collars of their shirts to tactical radios clipped to their belts.

There were identically dressed men and women positioned around the small gathering of guests seated in orderly rows facing the surf. As always, the agents were on alert, listening for updates through their ear pieces, eyes constantly scanning the small assembly and the occasional beachgoer. Although each agent prided himself or herself on professionalism, there was an added reason for the agents to be extra diligent. In addition to their charges, the Vice President and his family, seated amongst the guests was the lead agent for the White House security detail- Ron Butterfield. Although their boss, Ron, was wearing a civilian suit with no sunglasses or ear piece, was there on a strictly personal capacity, he was still a stickler for procedure being followed. Off duty or not, his subordinates knew that he was keeping a careful watch on their actions and performance.

The music playing swelled to a crescendo, and Ron turned to look at his one time team member walking slowly in his general direction. Sarah Walker was a vision in white, her hair swaying in the soft breeze. Her attention was on one man located a little beyond Ron, and her focus was unwavering in its intensity.

Butterfield had quickly realized that Sarah Walker and Chuck Bartowski were perfectly suited for each other. He hadn't thought twice about any romantic entanglement when he had suggested the cover relationship, given her reputation. But within moments of seeing the two together, he knew that they were two pieces of one set. He also realized that there would be no way that Javier Cruz would get anywhere near Chuck with Sarah dedicated to him. He didn't believe that as the Secret Service agent in charge of Chuck Bartowski's protective detail that his job description included being a matchmaker (no matter how much the President now gave him grief), but he also didn't believe in the CIA policy against fraternization. If anything, he quickly realized that Sarah Walker would march to hell and back if that was what it would take to protect Chuck Bartowski. If they found happiness together, that was just an added bonus.

Additionally, Ron had overheard Sarah on a personal phone call mention that Langston Graham had recruited her when she was still a teenager. He hadn't been snooping, but once that was heard, there was no way to un-hear it. He and Langston went back decades. He knew that as a CIA agent and then Director, Langston would have had to make many unseemly, difficult choices in order to protect the country. But even those choices wouldn't justify such an unorthodox recruitment of a girl so young that she was more child than woman at the time.

After Jed Bartlett's election, Ron had a quiet conversation with the then-President elect. Shortly after Bartlett took up residence in the White House, Langston Graham had announced his "retirement". Ron was impressed that in a town that more often resembled a sieve more than a vault, Bartlett had managed to keep any inkling out of the press that he had forced Langston to step down. That had been the first time that Ron had a gut feeling that he would like working for President Bartlett, although privately he wished that the President had selected Chuck Bartowski as his running mate. Ron didn't have any objection to the performance of Vice President Russell, but Chuck was a special person. And there were far too few special people in life in general, much less in politics.

* * *

Sarah felt butterflies in her stomach, a new and rather unwelcome sensation. She had trouble keeping eye contact with Chuck, even though looking in his eyes always made her feel safe, feel loved, feel grounded. Looking at him now definitely made her feel loved, but that was part of the problem. He had such a look of awe and amazement as they stood holding hands before the celebrant and gathered guests. _He still doesn't get it, does he? I'm the one who should be amazed that a man like Chuck wanted to commit himself for the rest of his life to me. That he was able to look past all of the skeletons (both literal and figurative) in my closet_. _I definitely need his strength for this next part, and I need to look him in the eyes as I say this. Maybe this time it will actually get through to him_.

"For most of my life, people who met me never looked past the surface- a carefully assembled construct meant to convey one type of message or another. But for many years, those people only saw the veneer. They didn't want to, weren't able to, or couldn't be bothered to notice that underneath the veneer there were gaps, pieces missing from the woman under the shell. I took great pains to hide those flaws from my own family," Sarah told Chuck, conviction ringing through. The celebrant beside them faded from sight, and the small audience disappeared from her notice. Her focus on Chuck was complete.

"But when you came along, nothing stayed hidden from you. You were more interested in the person under the veneer than in the outer packaging. When you look at me, you see me and not the shell. In your eyes, I am complete. I want to feel that complete. I want to touch the light I see in your eyes. I want to be that complete. But the reason why I am now complete is you, Chuck. When you came into my life, you filled all of those missing pieces, you opened the doorway to a thousand futures. But the only way I can imagine stepping through those doorways is with you by my side."

"I am here to commit myself to you, to commit living my life in the light. To commit myself to stepping through the doorway to discover our future-together."

Sarah had always found expressing her feelings to be difficult. It had been easier the longer time she spent with Chuck. But when she had thought of what she wanted to say in her vows, the words came easily, naturally.

Chuck stood silent for a moment, trying to blink back the tears in his eyes after hearing Sarah opening up, not only in front of him, but also the family and friends assembled. She had proven herself, yet again, to be the most incredible person he had ever met.

"In romance movies, the couples invariably say 'I can't picture my life without you.' That isn't the case with me. It is not that I can't picture my future without you, Sarah. It's that I can. And a future without you looks like a half life. Existing rather than living. And I want to live this life with you."

"There is a saying," Chuck continued. "A kind and steady heart can make a grey sky blue. A kind and steady heart is sure to see you through. That a kind and steady heart can conquer doubt and fear, get you a little farther down the road each day. From the moment we met, you have been that kind and steady heart. With you by my side, I was able to overcome doubt and fear, and get just a little farther down the road each day. I soon discovered that a task that seems impossible it quite possible for you. The road ahead is long, and there is no map to guide me or any set destination. But with your kind and steady heart to guide me, we will walk the road together."

"People keep asking me if I am disappointed that I lost the race, or if I regret running in the first place. And I always say to them that I don't regret running because I won. I won the love of an unimaginably incredible woman. One with a kind and steady heart. One who routinely makes what should be impossible seem not just possible, but ordinary for you."

"Hand in hand we will get a little farther down the road each day. We will go through your doorways and discover each of those thousand futures. And thousands more. Together."

* * *

The reception was in full swing, with everyone having fun- most of them on the dance floor where the groom was putting on a display of dance moves, much to enjoyment and amusement of his bride. Colonel Casey stood off to the side, sipping on a glass of Johnny Walker Blue. The nerd had bought a bottle specifically for Casey when he agreed to be in the wedding party. _Hmm, would have thought twice about accepting if they had told me that I was going to have to proceed down the aisle with Carina Miller_.

Casey allowed one soft smile to briefly appear as he watched the unabashed joy on Walker's face as she and Ellie shared a private joke. She looked like a young woman in love, rather than Langston Graham's wildcard enforcer. Casey allowed a moment's reflection on his own engagement to Kathleen, before Alexander had ever heard of the name John Casey. _Damn Bartowskis are starting to make me feel all soft and fuzzy_ , Casey grumbled to himself. He took a long sip of his whiskey, only putting the glass down when his encrypted satellite phone chirped in his dress uniform pocket. He unconsciously stood a little straighter when he saw the caller id show up on the screen.

"Yes, Mr. President," Casey called out as he moved to a distant corner of the room.

"Colonel," Bartlett started in, "I can tell from the video feed that you are standing at attention. At ease soldier. You are at a wedding for god's sake. You do realize that Chuck could have saved a fortune on the wedding photographer given the amount of surveillance at this event. Abby is still teary eyed from listening to the vows."

"Unfortunately," President Bartlett continued, "I need to interrupt your personal time with some pressing business. As you no doubt noticed, Agent Butterfield slipped out of the reception a moment ago. His team has developed new intel that whoever is behind the whisper campaign against Vice President Russell has decided to up their game. A credible threat to his children-not Agent Walk…Mrs. Bartowski that is. No one outside of Team Bartowski seems to have learned of her relationship to Bob. His younger children are being targeted, presumably as part of a plan to force him from office."

Casey looked around the party to the two teenagers, who were trying to learn a new dance move with the bride. Anyone who threatened a kid was the enemy in Casey's book. He would have no issues with crushing the people behind this threat. "The problem is," President Bartlett continued, "the new development has rattled Bob. An attack on his character is part of the risk of a high profile political career unfortunately. But this is a covert plan to hurt or kill his children in order to render him emotionally compromised and get him to step down."

"What are your orders, Mr. President," Casey snarled out, already shifting to combat mode mentality.

"You'll do what you do best, Colonel," the President calmly responded. "You will protect the people of this great nation. Ron Butterfield is going to head up the collection and analysis of intelligence on this threat-what is being planned, who is behind it, and just as importantly, what is their endgame? I would like for you to head up a small, elite unit to get out in the field, track down leads, and then to eliminate threats before they become actions, as well as get information to Ron so that he can assess it."

"When you say 'eliminate threats', just what does that entail, sir?"

"Well, Colonel," President Bartlett responded in a grumble that rivaled Casey's own. "If possible, you will bring those responsible to justice in a court of law. The public needs to understand this threat. They need to know that we are protecting our citizens, and our children. The rule of law is essential to a free society, Colonel."

"Yes, sir. I understand. But you did say 'if possible'. What if I do not believe that it will be possible to arrest some of these people?" Casey was curious to see how the President would respond.

"Well, Colonel," Bartlett countered, without pause, "you will conference with myself, Ron, and the Attorney General. If we are not able to bring these people in, and they are threatening the lives and safety of citizens-especially of children-then you and your team will receive an executive order authorizing lethal force. But I want it to be clear. Unless the lives of your or your team are in direct, immediate risk, I want there to be an executive finding and a formal order issued before anyone is killed. This is not carte blanche, Colonel. But if you or your team are in danger, you can do what you must. If and when any such executive order is issued, it will be because it is necessary. Never just for expedience sake. Am I clear Colonel?"

Casey had to resist the ingrained response and not snap off a salute while still at a wedding reception, especially when the man giving the order was on the phone. "Crystal, sir. And what is this team that you have mentioned, Mr. President?"

"Well, Colonel Casey. I was hoping that you would have some suggestions on that. We need for this to be kept ultra quiet. It appears that at least some of the people involved are in high level positions within the Washington bureaucracy. We don't know exactly the extent of the penetration of this group. I don't just want 'need to know', John, I want people who need to know and who you would trust with your own life. It has to be a small team, and elite. The best of the best."

Despite the fact that the man was a liberal Democrat, Casey already had a high level of respect for the new President. As the Commander in Chief, the man would have had Casey's loyalty regardless. But Bartlett was a good man, and was putting a tremendous amount of faith in Casey.

As they were speaking, Casey's eyes had roamed over the crowd, picking out a few faces as a plan started to come together in his head. "I've got an idea. Bartowski won't like it. We'll need the help of DCI Hewitt at the CIA and Director Rosenberg over at the DEA."

"If you don't think Bartowski is going to like it, I can't imagine it will go over well with her husband either," the President responded, adding a little moment of levity.

"Well, it's not like he wears the pants in that relationship anyway," Casey came back.

"You know, Colonel, despite all of your protests, I suspect that you actually respect our mutual friend. It is hard not to like Chuck. He's a good man."

"He may not like me after this, sir. His new bride was one of the best in the business. And she, along with two of her bridesmaid, made up a highly effective intelligence team a couple years ago. The CAT Squad. All three are here now."

"You mean to tell me that Sarah Walker was not only the Ice Queen, but part of the CATs?" The President said in amazement. "Ron gave be a briefing background on that team, but I don't think even he knew that she wore both of those hats. What a remarkable young woman."

"Too young for what she was called on to do," Casey mumbled.

"You and I agree on that, Colonel. Which is why former Director Graham quickly formed a 'long-standing' plan to retire once I was in office. Apparently in Langley, the time it takes to travel from an urgent White House meeting back to CIA headquarters qualifies as 'long-standing'."

"I'll get started right away, sir," Casey replied, ending the phone call.

Casey headed across the room to where Carina and Zondra were eyeing some of Awesome's fraternity brothers like they were prey. "The two of you will have to ruin those guys some other day. We've got a mission."

"Really, Casey?" Carina asked with an arched eyebrow. "Last time you couldn't handle me one on one. You want to invite Zondra to the party? You wouldn't survive the night." Zondra looked queasy at the idea.

"Not that type of mission, Miller," Casey growled. "Keep you skirt on. CAT squad mission, plus me."

"Aww," Carina complained, "I'm all dressed up and at a party-with an open bar!"

"Uh, Casey," Zondra joined in, "in case you've forgotten, I'm retired. No more missions."

"Rizzo, you know perfectly well that your discharge from the CIA contained a provision for recalling you to active duty. By order of the President less than a minute ago, you've been reinstated."

"Really, Casey? You expect us to believe that the President of the United States happened to speak to you during Chuck and Sarah's reception, and said that he's got a mission for you and Carina, and that I'm to be reinstated?" Zondra scoffed.

Casey just glared at her, his contempt for the waste of time clear. Rather than speak, he pulled out his Sat phone and activated the video conference feed. Almost immediately , the screen showed the familiar image of the Oval Office with President Bartlett seated behind the Resolute desk. "Ah, ladies. Colonel Casey had told me that he had a plan for this new threat. I would like to thank the two of you for assisting us. I know the two of you have done more service for this country than I know of –yet- but this could be one of the most important missions that you have undertaken. Thank you in advance for your duty."

Casey just smirked, turned on his heel and walked off.

* * *

Chuck practically collapsed into a chair at a table beside the ballroom dance floor, laughing as Sarah promptly sat down in his lap with a satisfied sigh. They had been dancing and mingling non-stop ever since the dinner followed by a pair of speeches. Awesome's mildly inappropriate best man speech was touching, but it was easily overshadowed by Ellie's maid of honor speech. She had started her speech with a couple of embarrassing anecdotes about her brother, but soon started talking about her "sister". Emma later recounted the absolute honesty and certainty in Ellie's words, as well as the words that were never spoken. While Ellie had piled on the compliments about Sarah's bravery, intelligence, compassion, caring, and (despite all of Sarah's frequent denials) humor, Ellie never referred to Sarah as her "sister-in-law". Sarah was her sister, her family.

The speeches had led to dancing, laughter and more dancing. Sarah could never remember being this happy, feeling this light and this loved. A glance at Chuck, with his beaming smile and eyes alight with joy showed that he was having just as great a time as she. But as Sarah's eyes began to track around the ballroom, her smile dimmed. Chuck, observant as ever when it came to Sarah, spoke up, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Sarah just shook her head, not speaking as her eyes tracked back around the ballroom, looking for something that she already knew wasn't there. Her spy sense told her that something was off. "I don't see Carina or Zondra. Casey too, for that matter. Something is up. Zondra wouldn't just leave without checking in, and Carina would never leave a party still filled with Devon's fraternity brothers."

Just as Sarah said this, a side door to the ballroom opened and Carina strutted in, wearing a skintight cocktail dress. Zondra was a few steps behind her, wearing a similar outfit, which made their bridesmaid dresses look practically like a nun's habit. Carina's smirk set off Sarah's spy sense again, and when Casey walked through the same door in a dark suit with a black tie, her suspicion was all but confirmed.

"I know that look," Sarah said with narrowed eyes. "You've got a mission. All of you."

"Yep," Carina replied with a smug grin. "It's a mini-CAT reunion, plus Casey."

"Hey," Chuck exclaimed. "CATs and Casey. Like C&C Music Factory, only with you three it would be more like C&C Mayhem Factory." His joke was met with four flat looks. "Man, tough crowd."

"What's the mission? Do you need me on the team?" Sarah asked, with a fluttering of anticipation and a huge dose of apprehension. Chuck's arm around her waist tightened slightly at her words, showing Chuck's apprehension over the answer as well.

"We've got this Walk—" Zondra's response was cut short by a growl from the bride that was so impressive that Casey's eyebrows rose in appreciation.

"That's Bartwoski. 'We've got this Bartowski.'" Sarah grumbled.

Zondra let out a wide smile at how far gone her friend truly was.

"You kids head off to your honeymoon. Just do whatever it is married couples do: crochet, cribbage, croquet," Carina responded with a derisive smirk.

"All C words, Carina," Chuck asked while grinning broadly. "You couldn't think of any starting with any other letter?"

"Hey, I'll have you know C is the best letter. Besides, there are other c words that married couples could also do. There is…"

"Thank you, Carina," Sarah cut in. "I don't think my new brother and sister need a vocabulary lesson from you."

"Don't worry, Walker," Zondra jumped in. "We'll leave some of the world for you to save when you get back. Plenty of fun for all to go around. You and Chuck take some time for the two of you. You both deserve it. We'll let you know where to find us when the honeymoon is over."

"Unless of course the two of you are in the family way," Casey sneered.

"Uh, Casey, I don't think a man can be 'in the family way,'" Chuck replied.

"Too bad there's no man in this relationship," Casey grinned.

"Oh, he's all man, John. Don't you worry about that," Sarah replied with a lascivious grin.

"Ugh," Casey groaned. "Come on CATs- not you Wa…Sarah- let's go before my trigger finger gets too itchy."

"She's gonna be pissed when she finds out about the mission," Zondra muttered as they headed out of the lobby of the Grand Ambassador and into a waiting black SUV with heavily tinted windows. "This is her family that is being threatened, after all."

"That's ok," Casey responded. "I've got a plan in place. I'm going to tell her that it was all Carina's idea."

"Wait," Carina said, snapping her head around towards the departing form of John Casey. "Casey! Don't even think it. I'll send everyone that photo!" She could see Casey's shoulder's bouncing with laughter as he walked out the ballroom door. She turned to Zondra, "Damn that man. Well, c'mon. Now that you are back in the spy game, it's time to go save the world."

"Again," Zondra grinned as she linked her arm with Carina's to head out after Casey.

* * *

A/N 2: Although we've come to the end of the road, still I can't let this story go…My apologies to both Boyz II Men and Peter Gabriel for the "sampling" of their lyrics. Three very good songs. Although, I had just finished the draft of Sarah's vows when I read Zettel's chapter in Chutes and Ladders with a brilliant quote from a 16th century Italian poet that put my misappropriation of Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes lyrics to shame. A good chunk of Chuck's vows are additional Peter Gabriel lyrics, but sleep deprivation has made me totally blank on that name of the track.

Thank you to all who have read, but more importantly to all who have reviewed and sent PMs. I have read them all-and modified the story here and there to incorporate some great ideas that hadn't occurred to me in the original version. I haven't started work on the sequel (I know where I want to go, just haven't started work on getting there), so any suggestions are more than welcome.


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